Chabrier: The Star (2019)

• 77%
• 2019
• Music
• François Roussillon
• Laurent Pelly
• Stéphanie d'Oustrac
• Christophe Mortagne
• Hélène Guilmette

L'Étoile did much to establish Chabrier as a major force on the Parisian stage and his contemporary Henri Duparc praised him specifically for creating a French comic genre, both funny and musical – described as something of a French Die Meistersinger. The fanciful story is set in an imaginary kingdom and all, naturally, ends well. However, despite the slight plot line L'Étoile is something of a pivotal work, a unique example of French 19th-century light opera, orchestrated with great sophistication and flooded with gossamer wit.