JACQUES OFFENBACH (1819-1880): Le Voyage dans la Lune.

Description: Jules Verne was the inspiration for Offenbach’s opéra-féerie, premiered in 1875. The Parisian craze for this type of musical extravaganza stemmed from its impressive stage effects: here, two ballets and some twenty sets took the audience from the Earth to the Moon, successively recreating the Paris Observatory, a working blast furnace and the crater of an erupting volcano. The piece is studded with zany characters and imaginary places: a lunar landscape, a glass palace, mother-of-pearl galleries, etc. The producers even borrowed a dromedary and an ostrich from the zoo at the Jardin d’Acclimatation! To accompany this theatrical display, Offenbach composed a series of colorful, picturesque hit numbers, wittily and energetically performed here by a team of enthusiastic soloists. 2 CDs. French-English libretto. Violette Polchi (mezzo), Sheva Tehoval (soprano), Matthieu Lécroart (baritone), Pierre Derhet (tenor), Chœur et Orchestre national Montpellier Occitane; Pierre Dumoussaud.