Meyerbeer: Robert Le Diable - Royal Opera House (2012) [Blu-ray]

A grand opera that dominated the stages of Europe for most of the 19th century, Robert le diable is a masterpiece.

Director Laurent Pelly breathes new life into Giacomo Meyerbeer’s great spectacle and audaciously entertaining moral fable, in this colourful new staging for The Royal Opera. The wonderful score includes brilliant arias, dramatic ensembles, rousing choruses and a ballet of ghostly nuns, and with the wavering hero of the title sung by Bryan Hymel, acclaimed for his role as Énée in Les Troyens for The Royal Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, this is an unmissable experience.

Premiered in 1831, it was one of the first grand operas staged at the Paris Opéra. Meyerbeer’s European fame was initiated with “Robert” – performed 470 times in Paris alone by the time of the composer’s death in 1864.

Опера в пяти актах, шести картинах с апофеозом. Либретто Э. Скриба и Ж. Делавиня.
Действие происходит на Сицилии в XI веке.

Действующие лица:
Изабелла, дочь короля Сицилии (сопрано)
Роберт, герцог Нормандии (тенор)
Рембо, нормандский трубадур (тенор)
Алиса, его невеста (сопрано)
Бертрам, дух зла (бас)
Принц Гренады (без речей)
Рыцари, дамы, слуги, народ, демоны, призраки, монахи, отшельники