FULL L’Opéra d’Aran (Gilbert Bécaud) Besançon 1989 Elena Baggiore, Hélia T’Hezan, Aldo Filistad, Juan Carlos Morales
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: L’Opéra d’Aran
- Composer: Gilbert Bécaud
- Libretto: Pierre Delanoé, Louis Amade, Jacques Emmanuel Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Théâtre Municipal de Besançon
- Recorded: March 5, 1989
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: Elena Baggiore, Hélia T'Hezan, Aldo Filistad, Juan Carlos Morales, Gian Koral, Jean-Marie Sevolker, Louis Hagen Williams, Christian Poulizac, Jean-Marie Delpas
- Conductor: Jean-Pierre Burtin
- Orchestra:
- Stage Director: Giampaolo Zennaro
- Costume Designer:
Information about the Recording
- Published by: jcm1702
- Date Published: 2024
- Format: Unknown
- Quality Video: 2 Audio:2
- Subtitles: nosubs
- Video Recording from: YouTube FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
L’Opéra d’Aran is a French opera in two acts and seven tableaux composed by Gilbert Bécaud on a libretto by Pierre Delanoé , Louis Amade and Jacques Emmanuel.
After writing L’Enfant à l’étoile , a Christmas cantata broadcast on television in 1960, the singer and composer Gilbert Bécaud decided to create a new choral and symphonic work. This opera evokes an imaginary Ireland and a tragic love story between an Italian man and an Irish woman.
The music composed by Gilbert Bécaud is inspired by French music from the second half of the 19th century but also by Italian composers such as Gian Carlo Menotti and Giacomo Puccini.
Act I
On the small Irish island of Aran , a fisherman, Mickey, brings back into his nets a young drowned man, Angelo, whom he manages to revive. Recovered, he seduces the youngest of the islanders by telling them that he is a Prince of a country where everything is wonderful. He tries to court Maureen whose fiancé, Sean, is said to have disappeared at sea several years ago. But Maureen devotes herself entirely to Sean’s mother, who has been blinded by grief. Mickey believes Angelo and wants to go with him to his country while the elders, including Mac Creagh, Mickey’s father, are convinced that Angelo is making things up and that he predicts a bad fate for Aran. Maureen ends up succumbing to Angelo’s charm while Sean returns to the island.
Act II
Sean, the one who was thought to be dead, has been through hell and has only one desire, to marry Maureen and see his mother, Mara, again, without knowing that in the meantime, the latter has died. During a bloody confrontation between Sean and Angelo, Maureen, trying to intervene, is seriously injured and loses her sight. Ignoring the superstitions of the island of Aran, Maureen decides to follow Angelo and leave the island with him. As Mickey prepares to join them on their journey, Angelo confesses to him that he lied. He is neither rich nor a Prince. Mickey’s pain erupts at the same time as a storm hits Aran. Understanding that Angelo and Maureen are running to their doom by embarking on the raging elements, Mickey begs, in vain, Angelo to return to Aran.
Quoted from Wikipedia