FULL Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien (Debussy) Paris 2012 Marie Kalinine, Blanche Konrad, Micha Lescot

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien  
• Composer: Debussy Claude   
• Libretto: Gabriele D'Annunzio    Libretto Text, Libretto Index
• Venue & Opera Company: Philharmonie de Paris  
• Recorded: 2012
• Type: Staged Opera Live
• Singers: Marie Kalinine, Blanche Konrad, Micha Lescot, Pauline Sabatier, Karen Vourc’h
• Conductor: Michel Tabachnik   
• Orchestra: Brussels Philharmonic  
• Chorus: Chœur de la Radio Flamande, Chœur symphonique Octopus  
• Stage Director: Jean-Philippe Clarac & Olivier Deloeuil  
• Costume Designer:   

Information about the Recording

• Published by: Philharmonie de Paris  
• Date Published: 2012  
• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 3 Audio:3
• Subtitles: nosubs  
• Video Recording from: philharmoniedeparis.fr     FULL VIDEO
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

Le Martyre de saint Sébastien is a five-act musical mystery play on the subject of Saint Sebastian, with a text written in 1911 by the Italian author Gabriele D’Annunzio and incidental music by the French composer Claude Debussy (L.124).

The work was produced in collaboration between Gabriele D’Annunzio (at that time living in France to escape his creditors) and Claude Debussy, and designed as a vehicle for Ida Rubinstein. Debussy’s contribution was a large-scale score of incidental music for orchestra and chorus, with solo vocal parts (for a soprano and two altos).

Following the acts of the original play, each section is called a ‘mansion’. The narrator sets the scene at the beginning of each section.

• La Cour de Lys (The Court of Lilies): The narrator invites the public to view Sébastien’s life as if studying 5 stained glass windows. The 1st depicts the twins Marc and Marcellien being tortured in a public place while Sébastien calls for a sign from God. As he dances on hot embers, lilies emerge from the ground.
• La Chambre Magique (The Magic Chamber): Sébastien overturns false idols, enters the Temple of the Virgin Erigone, and defeats pagan forces there. Another Virgin sings a lament.
• Le Concile des Faux Dieux (The Council of the False Gods): In a council of false gods, Emperor Dioclétien hails Sébastien as a “beauteous youth” whom he wants crowned. Sébastien claims he carries a crown, one forged by prayer and faith. The infatuated Dioclétien still wants to make Sébastien a god, and when Sébastien dances Jesus’s Passion and refuses the emperor’s lyre, Dioclétien orders him to be put to death.
• Le Laurier Blessé (The Wounded Laurel): In Apollo’s laurel grove, Sébastien receives each arrow crying “Encore!”. Alone, he sees stigmata appear on his hands and surrenders to holy ecstasy.
• Le Paradis (Paradise): Sébastien’s soul is received in heaven by choirs of martyrs, virgins, apostles, and angels singing in unison