Coronis

The recovery of our Baroque opera patrimony had to endure a number of incomprehensible delays of diverse nature, but also because of certain prejudices, complexes and misunderstandings that are hard to eradicate. Fortunately, after a number of decades, this inertia is being reverted and never stops surprising us with unfamiliar and valued works. One of the latest and most spectacular is Coronis, a completely sung zarzuela attributed to Sebastián Durón – master of the Royal Chapel of Madrid – discovered by musicologists Raúl Angulo and Antoni Pon who have placed the piece historically in the court of Phillip V in the midst of the War of  Spanish Succession, shortly before the composer’s exile in 1706.

With two intersected stories and a plethora of different types of characters –the nymph Coronis,  the sea monster Tritón,  the gods Neptune and Apollo and the amusing  Menandro and Sirene–,  this zarzuela of pastoral themes combines tragic and burlesque episodes and has a stimulating variety of stylistic registers  -  Spanish,  French and Italian -  in the form of sumptuous choruses, intense lamenti, animated ensembles and tonadas ( popular theatrical folksongs) which makes it one of the most surprising and enjoyable works of the Spanish Baroque repertoire.

Zarzuela in two acts

Music by Sebastián Durón (1660-1716)

Premiere at the Teatro Real

Production of the Teatro de Caen, in coproduction with the Opéra-Comique de París, Ópera de Lille, Ópera de Rouen and Opéra de Limoges

Opera in concert version

Conductor | Vincent Dumestre

Cast

Coronis | Ana Quintans

Tritón | Isabelle Druet

Sirene | Victoire Bunel 

Meandro | Anthéa Pichanik 

Apolo | Marielou Jacquard

Nepturno | Caroline Meng

Proteo | Cyril Auvity 

Iris | Brenda Poupard 

Marta | Olivier Fichet 

Orqueste Le Poème Harmonique