19July2026
From 16 € /adult
Opéra Bastide – Orphée et Eurydice
Sunday, July 19 at 15:30 p.m.
Eglise Saint Augustin Pl. des Augustins 12200 Villefranche-de-Rouergue
Gluck reinvented opera with this major work, inspired by the ancient legend of Orpheus, a singer who tries to bring his deceased wife, Eurydice, back from the realm of the dead by the sole power of music.
In the mid-19th century, Hector Berlioz revived Orpheus and Eurydice as a vehicle for his muse, collaborator, and close friend, Pauline Viardot, whose singular artistry breathed new life into the role. It is through this later lens that the work is understood today. In this reinterpretation, Orpheus and Eurydice are imagined on their wedding day, when their joy is brutally shattered by loss. What follows is not a literal descent into the Underworld, but an inner descent: Orpheus's struggle to survive the death of the woman he loves and to find meaning in an existence suddenly divided between a "before" and an "after."
As Orpheus's grief unfolds, memories resurface. Pauline Viardot's music, heard in flashbacks, appears as fragments of memory woven into the present. These moments become emotional markers, marking the stages of mourning: denial, desire, anger, bargaining, despair, and a fragile acceptance. When Orpheus finally turns around, it is not an act of disobedience, but something profoundly human: the necessity of confronting death itself, without looking away, as the only path to acceptance.
Dates and times
Prices
| Prices | Min. | Max. |
|---|---|---|
| Individual all public | 16 € | 32 € |
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