Chausson – Le Roi Arthus
La Monnaie, Brussels, November 2 2003 Conductor: Daniele Callegari. Production: Matthew Jocelyn. Genièvre: Hélène Bernardy. Arthus: Andrew Schroeder. Lancelot: Klaus Florian Vogt. Mordred: Philippe Georges. Lyonnel: Yves Saelens. Allan: Jacques Does. Merlin: Olivier Lallouette. Orchestra and Chorus of La Monnaie. Chausson La Monnaie’s website has this to say about Chausson’s Le Roi Arthus (my translation): “It was at the Monnaie [Belgium’s Royal Opera House, in Brussels] that Ernest Chausson’s Le Roi Arthus had its premiere in November 1903. The composer, who was also the librettist of his only opera, took as his source the Arthurian legends. The theme of irresistible passion between Lancelot and Guinevere, the wonderful message of forgiveness and worldly renouncement delivered by Arthur and above all the mystical dimension of the work link it to the symbolist movement then in vogue […] but also to the artistic world of Richard Wagner and, more specifically, Tristan and Parsifal . C...