Le Carnaval Mascarade Royale

Theater an der Wien, Wien

Nowhere else during the Baroque period were such magnificent festivities celebrated as at the court of the French king Louis XIV, and none of these festivities would have been conceivable without the comédies-ballets that the composer Jean-Baptiste Lully and the comic poet Molière created especially for them. In works such as The Citizen as Nobleman or Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, comedy, dance and song formed a beguiling and fascinating combination. When Lully turned to opera, his collaboration with Molière came to an end, but the composer himself compiled the best scenes from his comédies-ballets in the pasticcio Le Carnaval in 1668. Here, the Italian-born Lully shows himself to be a master of musical humor, varied dances and brilliant scenes reminiscent of the Commedia dell'Arte. The Italian ensemble Modo Antiquo with its musical director Federico Maria Sardelli has reconstructed the work for the first time after a performance from 1675 and is now bringing this comedic feast to Vienna.

Concert performance in French and Italian with German surtitles
Introduction to the work 30 minutes before the start of the performance