Les Fêtes de l’hymen et de l’amour at La Monnaie

When Jean-Philippe Rameau died in 1764 – 250 years ago – the world lost not only a great musicologist, but also a great opera composer who left us more than thirty works in this genre. Rameau composed Les Fêtes de l’hymen et de l’amour ou Les Dieux d’Égypte in 1747, on the occasion of the marriage of the French Dauphin. In this opéra-ballet, consisting of a prologue and three ‘entrées’, the librettist Louis de Cahusac was able to draw freely from themes in Egyptian mythology. The fact that this work remained popular so long after Rameau’s death was in part due to the impressive spectacle with its array of scenic machinery, but also because of Rameau’s extremely fresh and sparkling music. The interpretation by Le Concert Spirituel and its director Hervé Niquet will be a sure guarantee of historical precision and musical refinement.