Jean-baptiste Lully: Atys

Les Arts Florissants; William Christie, conductor

Jean-Baptiste Lully
Atys

Atys, once so dear to Louis XIV that it became known as the "the King's opera", was composed by Lully at the court and later revived at the Royal Academy of music. Its success was such that parodies began to abound as early as 1676. With its unprecedented dramatic intensity, Atys also happens to be the first ever opera to have featured a plot that revolved around love, and the first French tragedy to have killed off its lead character on stage. Combining dance and expressive singing, Quinault and Lully breathed feeling and poetry into conventional theatre plays.
This opera work would spend two centuries in oblivion before one day in 1985, the Opéra de Paris called on William Christie and the director Jean-Marie Villégier to stage a celebration of the tercentenary of Lully's death. And so it was that in 1987, Atys resurrected from its ashes, creating a commotion such that the French baroque genre firmly asserted itself as a media staple.
There were tours, there were remakes, and in 1992, the work was once again consigned to obscurity.
American born Ronald P. Stanton, a patron of the arts who dearly wished to see Atys again before dying, and to introduce his son to the piece, donated the funds required to allow a novel production of the opera work. And so it was that in 2011, the Opéra Comique was at last able to once again present the masterpiece.
Admittedly, the magic of the show remains unchanged. The strength of Villégier's production resides in the fact that he chose to stage the tragedy in unique black marble settings, highlighted by the silver furniture of the Grands Appartements de Versailles, not to mention the 115 sumptuous costumes by Patrice Cauchetier, the gracefulness of the choreography by the late Francine Lancelot's, recreated by Béatrice Massin, and of course, the power of expression of the musicians and choir of the Arts Florissants and the Jardin des Voix. Last but not least, the cast of Bernard Richter's powerful rendition of Atys, which features the mezzo soprano Stéphanie d'Oustrac in the role of Cybèle, rival to the vibrant Sangaride, herself given voice by the soprano Emmanuelle de Negri.
This DVD will fill those lucky enough to have attended any of the various shows in Paris, Caen, Bordeaux, Versailles or New York with joy, letting them relive the dazzling moment of grace experienced live in the theatre, and bring Lully's masterpiece, magnified by the combined talents of William Christie and Jean Marie Villégier within the reach of those who were not.

Price: $49.98