Johann Christian Bach: Amadis de Gaule

Amadis de Gaule is the perfect embodiment of a knight. Beautiful Oriane returns his love but the wicked enchantress Arcabonne and her brother Arcalaüs make dark and perfidious plots. Will good triumph over evil in the end…?

Amadis de Gaule is the last opera composed by Johann Christian Bach. Commissioned in 1779 by the Royal Academy of Music, the then Opéra de Paris, it was composed in French. Its instrumentation is particularly meticulous and reminiscent of Mozart’s Don Giovanni (composed eight years later) or Beethoven’s Fidelio (1805).

The French Institutes of Prague and Bratislava and the Palazzetto Bru Zane (Centre for French Romantic Music) collaborated to revive this lyrical masterpiece. The opera, for seventy artists, will be presented on November 26, 2010 in Bratislava on the occasion of the Bratislava Music Festival, and on December 1 at the Prague State Opera.

Sponsors: Culturesfrance, Festival BHS, Peugeot, Crédit Agricole – Corporate and Investement Bank, Peterka Partners and the Association of French Teachers in the Czech Republic (SUF), Prague State Opera, Radio Classic FM and Sanquis.