Armide

In 1686, Quinault and Lully again combined their genius to divert his Majesty: the story of the ill-fated love of Armide the magician and the crusader Renaud. A beautiful tapestry for a sumptuous show with the fascinating Stephanie d’Oustrac.

Armide is a variation on the legend of Penthesilea and Achilles that Le Tasse adapted to his Jerusalem Delivered. It is a tale of impossible love: the meeting then separation of two lovers who are desperate for each other, but who belong to two opposing camps. Ultimately, the result of this battle is played out in advance, from the prologue when Sagesse (Wisdom) and Gloire (Glory) together sing the praises of the Monarch. And it is precisely this that intrigued Dominique Pitoiset, in embarking on this next phase, after Così fan tutte, in his exploration of the "battle between the sexes". The prologue signals that Armide is not only a gift sent to the king, but also a message addressed to him. 

Why then would Louis XIV choose to have this plot played out before his entire Court – that of a seductress whose powerful machinations conquer all, with but one exception? What did he seek to convey, in deciding to remain absent from all the performances? After this ultimate masterpiece, Quinault and Lully would never again work together. The librettist turned exclusively to the salvation of his soul. And the composer would die a few months later, carried away by gangrene without every revealing the enigma. 

New production of the Opéra de Dijon
Coproduction Opéra Royal – Château de Versailles Spectacles

In partnership with 

^{© RMN-Grand Palais domaine de Chantilly-Thierry Olivier}

Music Jean-Baptiste Lully
Libretto Philippe Quinault
Tragedy in music in 5 acts and a prologue
First performed on 15 February 1686 at the Théâtre du Palais Royal

Musical director Vincent Dumestre
Staging Dominique Pitoiset
Choreography Bruno Benne

Le Poème Harmonique 
Chœur de l’Opéra de Dijon
Dancers from Compagnie Beaux-Champs

Vocal conductor Lucie Chabard, Benoît Hartoin and Marie van Rhijn
Choir conductor Anass Ismat
Lighting and scenographic collaboration Christophe Pitoiset
Costumes Nadia Fabrizio
Video Emmanuelle Vié le Sage
Make-up and hairdressing Marion Bidaud
Director assistant Marie van Rhijn
Staging assistant Éléonore Nossent
Choreography assistant Carlo Schiavo
Costumes assistant Camille Pénager

Armide Stéphanie d’Oustrac
Renaud Cyril Auvity
Hidraot Tomislav Lavoie
Gloire/ Sidonie/ Lucinde Eva Zaïcik
Sagesse/ Phenice/ Melisse Marie Perbost
Artémidore/ La Haine Timothée Varon
Chevalier danois/ Amant fortuné David Tricou
Aronte/ Ubald Virgile Ancely
Bergère héroïque / Naïade Anouk Defontenay
Bergère Jeanne Lefort
Dancers Bruno Benne, Polonie Blanchard, Alix Coudray, Océane Delbrel, Laure Desplan, Catarina Pernao & Anaïs Vignon
Video appearings Adrien Philippon, Simon Sautet, Laurent Zucchi, Serge Griffon, Vladimir Hugot, Julien Collenne et Guillaume Col

Costumes production Ateliers de l’Opéra de Dijon
Settings production Ateliers de l’Opéra de Dijon
Édition of the scores Copyright © 2006-2014 Nicolas Sceaux Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License
Subtitles Richard Neel

Coproduction Opéra de Dijon, Opéra Royal – Château de Versailles Spectacles