Le roi d’Ys: the grand French opera of Édouard Lalo

Lalo's (almost) sunken city of Ys

He is best known internationally for his Symphonie espagnole for violin and orchestra, but the French composer Lalo, born in Lille, also wrote operas. He worked on his greatest work, Le roi d'Ys , for about ten years and the premiere took place in Paris in 1888. The opera goes back to a Breton legend about the coastal city of Ys, which was said to have been swallowed up by the sea. Two king's daughters, one of whom is driven by intense jealousy, love the same man. The scorned daughter takes revenge by opening the floodgates and flooding the city, which is prevented by religious intervention.

Echoes of Breton folk music and Lohengrin

Lalo's orchestral language is suggestive and chromatic, with occasional echoes of Wagner and his Lohengrin , but he also uses Breton folk music. Debussy later wrote his piano piece La cathédrale engloutie based on this legend. The Saturday Matinee presents this great romantic title from the French repertoire, which, due to its great success at the premiere in Paris, was immediately performed in Amsterdam in 1888 - then in Dutch.

This concert is a co-production of the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra and Palazzetto Bru Zane, with support from the Hungarian Ministry of Culture and Innovation.