Lear by Aribert Raimann at Paris Palais Garnier

King Lear in a new light… This is what Palais Garnier offers with several performances of Lear, an opera by Aribet Reinmann performed from November 21 to December 7, 2019. A work obviously based on the eponymous play written by William Shakespeare.

Everything starts with a baryton, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau who – keen to play the lead role of King Leak – comes to ask Aribert Reinmann once, unsuccessfully. But it’s in 1975, when the Bayerische Staatsoper from Munich places an order that he ultimately agrees to take up the challenge of staging this impossible opera – numerous composers have sought to come to grips with it but kicked themselves.

• To be read
• Good plans of the week from March 20 to 26, 2023 in Paris: free or cheap outings

The story of this opera is as known as Shakespeare’s work: the play takes place in Scotland, at the court of the King Lear who tired of ruling ends up sharing his kingdom between his three daughters, Goneril, Codelia and Regan. An opera making “all the tortuous dissimulations and violence of human relationships” emerge thanks to the “somber orchestral timbres and the highly nuanced vocal lines”. A “cathartic” production by Calixto Beito in which “each of the characters is stripped bare”. Intriguing enough to buy tickets, friends?