The 3 March 2021 OperaWednesday featured two Gallic-themed one-act operas. The highlights from La putain respectueuse by Kamilló Lendvay and La princesse jaune by Camille Saint-Saëns were streamed from 8:00 p.m. on Facebook and Origo.hu.
Kamilló Lendvay: La putain respectueuse (The Respectful Prostitute)
“When it comes to subjects for operas, it is not a prerequisite for me to comply with any current trends. What is more important – perhaps the most important thing – is for the subject I choose to contain a social background to humankind’s fate and for the dramatic material to pack a kind of emotional charge that, paired at a high-level with the music, conveys that which cannot be said with words alone,” said Kamilló Lendvay of the opera he wrote based on a play by Jean-Paul Sartre. A typical Sartrean protagonist, Lizzie (Bori Keszei) must cast judgement over an innocent man’s life while her own existence is also at risk. One’s fate is decided by how one exercises one’s freedom of choice. In further roles: Péter Balczó (Fred), Krisztián Cser (The Negro) and András Káldi Kiss (Senator Clark).
Camille Saint-Saëns: La princesse jaune (The Yellow Princess)
A drug-addicted youth makes a despairing attempt to escape from the greyness of reality. The “Great Mystery of the Orient”, however, is at least as enticing as it is alarming. It depends on how we look at it: from within it is a (temporary) paradise, and from outside it is hell. It is not impossible that the illusion of reality and the reality of the illusion come from the same place. But perhaps this is the common starting point without which the tragicomic analysis of the recognition of the otherness, the foreignness in ourselves and in our desires cannot even commence. Soloists: Zita Szemere (Léna) and Péter Balczó (Kornélis).
Artistic director of the performance: Sylvie Gábor
Pianist: Balázs Kálvin
Hosted by Dániel Mona
The performance can be seen HERE.
Photo by Edina Ligeti