L'Heure espagnole de Ravel y Gianni Schicchi de Puccini

Enjoy a thrilling operatic double bill — Ravel's L’Heure espagnole, performed during the year of Ravel's 150th birthday anniversary, and Puccini's Gianni Schicchi — by award-winning duo Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier at the magnificent Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, Valencia! The star-studded cast features renowned mezzo-soprano Eve-Maud Hubeaux and soprano Marina Monzó, as well as acclaimed baritone Ambrogio Maestri and tenor Iván Ayón Rivas, performing under the masterful baton of Michele Spotti.

First performed at Paris's Opéra Comique in May 1911, L’Heure espagnole is a one-act comic opera following the romantic antics of a watch-maker’s wife when her husband is preoccupied with winding the town’s clocks. A masterful orchestrator, Ravel infused the work with Spanish dance rhythms — jota, malagueña, fandango, habanera — to create a whimsical, playful atmosphere. The composer defended the work’s daring character in an open letter to Le Figaro: "I seek to give new life to the Italian opera buffa, but only in its principle. Like its only ancestor, The Marriage by Mussorgsky, L'Heure espagnole is a musical comedy." Gianni Schicchi is a perfect example of the opera buffa. It is the only comedy in Puccini’s entire oeuvre, as well as his only opera based on an Italian source (an episode from Dante’s Inferno). Lush orchestration and lyrical passages — including Lauretta’s famous aria "O mio babbino caro" — contrast with harmonic dissonance, complementing the fast, ever-shifting pace of the work.

Photo © Miguel Lorenzo / Mikel Ponce / Les Arts