Tragédie by Jean-Philippe Rameau
In April 1763, rehearsals for Rameau's last opera, which was to premiere as part of an exclusive royal celebration, were in full swing when they were abruptly halted for unknown reasons, and the work sank into the depths of the archives, unplayed for over two centuries. It is possible that censorship had put its foot down, for the ostensibly mythological story has a deeper level that is revealed in this production: The struggle of Queen Alphise and the priest of the god of light, Abaris, against the autocratic Boreads is a parable of the power of the Enlightenment, a promise of the victory of liberty, equality, and fraternity, and a declaration of war on all tyrants of this world. Another special feature of this production is the continuous and contextually motivated participation of the ballet company, as already established by Rameau: The German premiere of Rameau's moving legacy, which took place in Oldenburg in 2021 and can now also be experienced in Karlsruhe, has been hailed as a "musical-dramatic milestone."
