“Paride ed Elena” is an opera by Christoph Gluck, the third and final of his Italian works, following “Orfeo and Euridice” and “Alceste”. The libretto was written by the Italian poet and librettist Ranieri de' Calzabigi. Reformers both of them, they tried to distance their work from the austere conventions of the tragic genre to create new operatic forms.
The composer created a delicate sensual piece that had a long-lasting impact in lyric tragedy and is now part of the history of music. The opera tells the story of the events between the judgment of Paris and the flight of Paris and Helen to Troy. It premiered at the Burgtheater, in Vienna, on November 3, 1770.
Gluck dedicated this opera to a Portuguese aristocrat, D. João Duque de Lafões, residing at the time in Vienna, who would later establish the Lisbon Academy of Sciences.
The invitation made to Clara Andermatt by the Opera Studio of Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa (ESML), to develop this project with the school’s students, constituting the very first time the stage version of this opera was ever presented in Portugal.
Clara Andermatt has a trajectory marked by a very close relationship with music, and she was joined with students, former students and ESML teachers to create a new project where music, space and movement merge into a highly emotional atmosphere, where Gods and Men conspire in the name of love.
Act I – Shore near the City of Sparta
Act II – A room in the Royal Palace of Sparta
Act III – Royal Palace of Sparta
Act IV – The King’s dwellings
Act V – Palace gardens