October 22 – 31 2015

Choreogr apher’s Notes
Armide (1686) represents the work of Lully and
Quinault as a perfectly integrated form including
music, drama, dancing and design. Opera
Atelier’s production is true to our mandate in
that it is period-sensitive yet newly imagined.
Lully, who was an excellent dancer himself, provides
the choreographer with beautiful evocative
music which is a great pleasure to work with.
The dancer’s role in French Baroque opera is
to act as a framework of movement and as a
visualization of the music, enhancing the piece
through grace, virtuosity and a stylish display
of highly trained physiques, gorgeously costumed.
Festive scenes with dances and choral
singing alternate with dramatic scenes as when
Armide’s initial triumphant celebration is interrupted
by the messenger bringing news that
Renaud has released her prisoners. The dramatic
situation created by this juxtaposition
greatly enhances the emotional impact of the
story as it unfolds.
The opening dances “March and Sarabandes for
the People of Damascus” are created according
to the “Noble Style” developed in the Royal
Academy established by Louis XIV in 1661. This
style is sophisticated and elegant, subtle and refined, and has been preserved in many pictures,
manuals and in a form of dance notation. The courtiers at Versailles would have deeply appreciated
this style as they were proficient dancers themselves. The inclusion of martial arts underlines
the military aspect of the scene. Once we enter Armide’s magic world of lovely fairies and demons
representing the pleasures of the senses, the style becomes more free with athletic jumps and gestures
which distort the “noble” carriage. In the 17 th century the dancers of the Commedia dell’Arte
were very popular in France, with their acrobatic movements and characteristic poses. The crucial
character of Love is portrayed by a dancer, with choreography that matches his wings as he floats
lightly until the character of Hatred (a singer) appears at Armide’s bidding to exorcise love from her
heart. Where Love was accompanied by beautiful spirits, dancing lightly, Hatred has a retinue of
leaping demons.
Lully chose the traditional final Passacaille to accompany Armide’s visionary creatures’ last entertainment
for Renaud, and the dances are once again in a more formal style. A pair of happy lovers
opens the Passacaille, followed by dancers representing Music, then Food and Wine, then Poetry,
and finally Love. These characters attempt to seduce Renaud into staying forever in their kingdom
of earthly delights. The charming idea of dancers carrying, or even wearing, literal symbols of the
character which they depict was very popular in 17 th century France and offers the present-day
audience a delightful glimpse into the past.
• Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg
Set DesigN Notes
Armide is a story of the 11th century First Crusade penned as an epic poem by Torquato Tasso in the
Italian Renaissance and transformed by Jean Baptiste Lully and Philippe Quinault in 17th century
France into the tragédie lyrique we present tonight. The designs for Armide grew out of the realization
that independently throughout this period the conflicting cultures in the story developed
the book as a sophisticated art form that communicated much of its message through exquisitely
rendered illustrations and elaborate calligraphy. In Europe the devotional Book of Hours featured
breathtaking illuminations illustrating biblical texts, prayers and psalms while in the Middle East
artists and scribes were creating the glittering, jewel-toned miniatures that beautify the books of
history, legend and poetry that are among the highpoints of artistic achievement in the Islamic
world. These miniatures, so full of intricate pattern and burnished gold became the inspiration for a
set design that treats the stage as an immense book, each scene another page in a story of conflict,
enchantment and thwarted love.
As a departure from my designs for past shows I decided to abandon the forced perspective and
trompe l’oeil paint effects so often seen on the baroque stage in favour of brilliant passages of flat
colour, stylized pattern and Islamic calligraphy (the only European elements are the Christian icons
and military standards captured as trophies by Armide’s armies in the first act). I was fortunate to
work closely with a master Persian calligrapher who translated passages of the libretto for Armide
into elegantly composed panels of graphic script that became integral parts of the design. Even the
house curtain became a “title page” on which a great tughra (the calligraphic emblem traditionally
affixed to Ottoman decrees) announces the names of Armide, Lully and Quinault written in Persian.
While the designs for Armide are created in a Baroque spirit, their stylization would have seemed
strange to 17th century European eyes. Today in a globalized world where information about foreign
cultures can be had at the click of a button and the conflict in the Middle East continues
unabated, this layering of a Middle Eastern aesthetic on a western framework seems to me the
right choice for an opera that treats both cultures as equals and in which the struggle between the
two produces no clear victor.
• Gerard Gauci
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