Le Poème Harmonique will be giving a single performance of the operatic tragedy by Jean-Baptiste Lully with the libretto by Philippe Quinault on 15 March 2026 at the Teatro Real.
Premièred in 1686 in Paris (France), it is one of the masterpieces of the tragedy in music genre, a form of French opera that combines music, dance and dramatic poetry, developed especially by Lully in the court of Louis XIV.
It is based on Torquato Tasso's epic poem, Jerusalem Delivered, and tells of the conflict between duty and love, focusing on Armide, a powerful Saracen sorceress, and Renaud, a crusader knight.
Armide hates the crusaders and wants to destroy them, but when she captures Renaud, she falls deeply in love with him. She struggles with her emotions and, although she manages to enchant him into loving her, she cannot bear that his passion is thanks to magic. When the spell is broken, Renaud regains his sense of duty and abandons Armide. After that, desperate and consumed by unrequited love, Armide ends up alone and defeated by her own feelings.
Le Poème Harmonique is a French group specialised in the performance of ancient music, especially from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, with historical instruments and techniques. It was founded by Vincent Dumestre in 1998, a lute player and conductor who is passionate about 17th century music, and its repertoire focuses mainly on French compositions from the early Baroque period, as well as Italian and Spanish pieces and those from other countries.
Artistic File:
- Musical Conductor - Vincent Dumestre
Cast:
- Armide - Stéphanie d’Oustrac
- Renaud - Cyril Auvity
- The Sorceress / Phénice / Mélisse - Marie Perbost
- Gloria / Sidonie / Lucinde - Eva Zaïcik
- Hidraot - Tomislav Lavoie
- Hatred / Artémidore - Timothée Varon
- The Danish Knight / A Lucky Lover - David Tricou
- Orchestra - Le Poème Harmonique
Programme:
Tragedy in music in a prologue and five acts
- Music - Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)
- Libretto - Philippe Quinault, based on the epic poem Jerusalem Delivered (1581) by Torquato Tasso
- Opera In concerto version
Español
Français
