Psyché (konzertant)

Linke Wienzeile 6

1060 Wien

 

Semi-opera in five acts

Libretto by Thomas Shadwell

 

Italy and France may be considered the great opera houses of the 17th century, but the most unusual musical theater works of this period may have come from England. Matthew Locke, for example, boldly experimented with new aesthetic paths and a daring harmony that was perceived by his contemporaries as as dissonant as his life: At a time of the strictest Puritanism, Locke converted to Catholicism, and when the theaters were about to close, he composed demonstrative theater music. His semi-opera Psyche (1675) is also characterized by this urge to disobedience, in which he masterfully interweaves spoken dialogues with arias and dance music. Actors and singers stand side by side on an equal footing. King's daughter Psyche is so unearthly beautiful that even the love god Cupid woos her and makes her his lover. However, in order to maintain his incognito, he never shows himself in daylight - and Psyche begins to wonder who she has plunged into an affair with.

 

Concert performance in English with German surtitles

Introduction to the work 30 minutes before the start of the performance

 

(Source: theater-wien.at)