Mondonville : Le Carnaval du Parnasse

Mondonville still had everything to prove in 1749: his career had begun a few years earlier and he was already a potential rival for Rameau. This new heroic ballet was only his second operatic work: but what a triumph, the most dazzling of his entire career! Here it was, taking everything over, with more than thirty-five performances in a row, and revivals lasting four decades! The celebrations and entertainments of a Carnival taking place on Parnassus, where the most diverse gods frolic, form the whimsical argument of this work: "This play is by a singular genius, and does not resemble anything that has appeared on the lyric theatre [...] if the author has fulfilled the purpose he set out to portray, the amusements and conversations of Carnival, there is little to reproach him. (Mercure de France). Dedicated to the Marquise de Pompadour, muse of the Arts and omnipotent favourite of the King, this Carnival is nothing but banter and excess of gallantry, as it should be...

Invoking the character of Folly in imitation of Rameau's Platée, premiered in Paris the same year, the composer gives free rein to his creativity, deploying impressive virtuosity throughout, summoning unheard-of orchestral colours, imagining unbridled dances and vast ceremonial choirs comparable to those of his great motets. Here is an exceptional work that Alexis Kossenko will have the pleasure of conducting on record and in concert, for this true reincarnation of the splendour of the court of Louis XV, at its height... 

A Les Ambassadeurs ~ La Grande Ecurie production
Partnership Atelier lyrique de Tourcoing | Centre de musique baroque de Versailles |CAVEMA