Raymond Leppard

Stravaganza D'amore Raymond Leppard

The lavish princely entertainments that were given in Italy since the Renaissance, and in particular at the Medici Court in Florence, were famous throughout Europe. The musical interludes that adorned them were already true dramatic masterpieces which marvelously combined music and poetry. They set a frame for the birth of the Italian Opera, Monteverdi's Orfeo (1607) being their direct heir with its almost perfect architecture, the depth of its expression and the immanent beauty of its music. In a state of grace, Raphaël Pichon invites you to discover these Italian splendours, by imagining a princely interlude conceived with the most sumptuous pieces of music of the turn of

the 1600s that is both true opera scenes but also gigantic polychoral pieces for thirty voices. All of them filmed here in the most beautiful palatial Gallery in the World: namely, we invite you on a dreamlike musical journey in the Hall of Mirrors of the Château de Versailles.