Description

By 1900 several cities in southern France had taken to organising major open-air musical events, following the example of Béziers, whose festival, held in its arena, had proved a great success. Encouraged by the Félibrian movement and supported by the Direction des Beaux-Arts, the City of Orange planned to give regular performances in the fine setting of its Roman theatre, boasting its original stage wall and with a capacity of almost twelve thousand. Several productions had already been mounted there: plays and operas given in the summer by stars of the Parisian companies. This time, however, the idea was to create a ‘French Bayreuth’, and for that a large-scale operatic work needed be commissioned, one written specifically for the Roman theatre by authors whose reputations would draw the crowds.

From the CD-Book Les Barbares de Saint-Saëns (Palazzetto Bru Zane, collection Opéra français, 2014). Translation: Mary Pardoe.