REVISITING….LES HUGUENOTS

There have been many cases of historically momentous operas that claimed the public in their day, then fell into neglect. But the near disappearance of Giacomo Meyerbeer’s French grand opera “Les Huguenots” is especially baffling.

“Les Huguenots,”: Giacomo Meyerbeer’s 1836 opera, much loved and performed in its time, received a rare staging at the SummerScape festival at Bard College.

For nearly 100 years after its astonishingly successful 1836 premiere in Paris, the opera was a mainstay of the repertory, especially in France. It was the first work in the history of the Paris Opera to reach the milestone of 1,000 performances.

“Les Huguenots” was last performed at the Metropolitan Opera in 1915, in an Italian translation with a cast that included Enrico Caruso.

The August 2009 SummerScape production at the Fisher Center, Bard College, New York was staged by the young American director Thaddeus Strassberger, winner of the 2005 European Opera Directing Prize, in collaboration with the Spanish photographer and filmmaker Eugenio Recuenco who together with Eric Dover, art directed the revival.

It is majestic opera at its purest, featuring a large cast and chorus, all against a sobering backdrop of bigotry and hatred.