The splendours and miseries of love’s desire are the foundations of commedia del’arte: this is what is promised in this work by the young Mozart, who was but 18 years old when he took up the libretto by the abbot Giuseppe Petrosellini to create his dramma giocoso. And in truth, the work bears all the grace, the lightness and the vivacity of his 18 years.

If La Finta Giardiniera is not the composer’s best-known masterpiece, it is certainly one of his most joyful and ardent. From one misunderstanding to the other, the rhythm of imbroglios accentuates the juvenile inebriation of these characters in their search for love. The pretend garden-girl is in fact a real marchioness: Violente Onesti, disguised under the sobriquet of Sandrine to win back her lover. Nardo, her servant, passes for her cousin, and the beautiful Arminda is ignorant of the fact that she is about to wed Violente’s former lover, the Count Belfiore, who believes he has killed the marchioness…

We enjoyed their truculent Nozze di Figaro, presented in 2008: Emmanuelle Haïm and the musicians of Le Concert d’Astrée this time apply their extensive knowledge of the 18th century repertoire to La Finta Giardiniera, here brought to the stage with excellent humour by a young generation of lyric talents. After The Rake’s Progress (2012), David Lescot returns for this occasion to bring to bear all his expertise as a man of the theatre in the service of a vision of the work that pays tribute to the youth, the enthusiasm and the humour of the composer.

This performance is available in the package "Christmas Trio".

Opera buffa in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) created in 1775,
on a libretto attributed to Giuseppe Petrosellini.

Conductor Emmanuelle Haïm
Director David Lescot
Scenography Alwyne de Dardel
Costumes Sylvette Dequest
Lights creation NN
Conductor assistant Atsushi Sakaï
Singing Master Philippe Grisvard

With
Don Anchise, Podestà Carlo Allemano
Sandrina Erin Morley
Comte Belfiore Enea Scala
Arminda Marie-Adeline Henry
Ramiro Marie-Claude Chappuis
Serpetta Maria-Virginia Savastano
Roberto (Nardo) Nikolay Borchev

Le Concert d’Astrée

WED 19 MARCH 6:00 P.M.
WEDNESDAY CONCERT
MOZART INTIME
With the soloists from Le Concert d’Astrée.

SA 22 MARCH
ENCOUNTER
WITH THE ARTISTIC TEAM
after the representation.
Free entrance

WED 26 MARCH 6:00 P.M.
WEDNESDAY CONCERT
UN SALON VIENNOIS
Lieder by Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
With Sophie Harmsen mezzo-soprano, Marcelo Amaral piano

SU 30 MARCH 3:30 P.M.
LES 400 COUPS Nouveau !
Entrust your children to us during the representation.