J. J. C. de Mondonville: Isbé (Highlights)

Pastorale héroïque in five acts with a prologue (1742)

Modern world première concert performance

Katherine Watson - Isbé
Reinoud Van Mechelen - Coridon
Thomas Dolié - Adamas
Chantal Santon-Jeffery - Desire / Charite
Alain Buet - Iphis / Third hamadryad
Blandine Folio-Peres - Fashion / Céphise
Rachel Redmond - Ámor / A shepherd / Clymėne / A nymph
Artavazd Sargsyan - Tircis / First hamadryad / Forest god
Márton Komáromi - Second hamadryad

Purcell Choir
Orfeo Orchestra (on period instruments)
Concertmaster: Simon Standage
Conductor: György Vashegyi

6 March 2016, Béla Bartók National Concert Hall - Palace of Arts (MÜPA) , Budapest, Hungary


Coproduction : MÜPA Budapest – Orfeo Music Foundation Budapest – Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles

First modern edition: Anna Scholz, Ágnes Pintér, György Vashegyi

Isbé is the first opera by Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville (1711 – 1772), and the only one of nine which did not bring its composer wide success in the genre of musical theatre although it is true that at that time, he was not yet an admired maestro in the French royal court, nor a favourite of the arts-loving kings mistress Madame de Pompadour. While the large-scale motets he later composed as an established master became an everyday feature in the royal chapel, his instrumental music was also highly regarded in the France of Louis XV. Mondonville also garnered great prestige as principle choirmaster of the royal chapel and as violinist and main composer of the first concert series in music history, entitled Concert Spirituel.

Highlights:

0:01 Overture
3:00 Act 2 scene 1 - Adamas : "Amour, amour, dieu séducteur"
4:57 Act 4 scene 1 - Isbé: "Laisse-moi soupirer, importune grandeur "
9:11 Act 4 scene 2 - Isbé, Coridon: "Voyez couler mes larmes"
14:49 Act 5 scene 1 - Ritournelle, Isbé, Iphis: "Coridon ne vient point"
17:51 Act 5 scene 2 - Choeur, Adamas: "Tous les dieux contre nous"
21:18 Act 5 scene 2 - Isbé, Coridon, Choeur: "Je n'aimerai que vous"