Luigi Cherubini. Les Abencérages ou L’Étendard de Grenade

CD-Book. Bru Zane Label. French Opera Collection n. 34.

In fifteenth-century Granada, a plot threatens General Almanzor. Against his rivals’ treachery, he can count only on the chivalrous spirit of Gonzalo de Córdoba, his adversary on the battlefield. Rather than a war of religions or civilisations, therefore, Les Abencérages presents a universal struggle for justice. This work, premiered in 1813, marked Luigi Cherubini’s return to the stage of the Paris Opéra after a ten-year gap. It dates from the very beginnings of French grand-opéra, with its many ensemble scenes and its vocal bravura. On reading the score, Mendelssohn exclaimed: ‘I cannot sufficiently admire the sparkling fire, the clever original phrases, the extraordinary delicacy and refinement with which the whole is written.’

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