this is the explosive subject of the opera “Autumn Journey”, a new creation by the Opéra du Capitole

A world creation is on the bill at the Opéra national du Capitole: “Autumn Journey” by Bruno Mantovani. For this commission from the Capitol, the composer seizes a proven historical episode: the visit, orchestrated with great fanfare by Nazi propaganda, of French writers to the Germany of the Third Reich in 1941. [Partenariat]

A brand new production will be performed at the Théâtre du Capitole, November 22, 24, 26 and 28 next ones. The opera “Autumn Journey”, a world premiere by Bruno Mantovani, with a libretto by Dorian Astor, addresses the dark episode of the Collaboration in an intense tragicomedy.

Autumn 1941: five French literary celebrities are invited by the Nazi regime to the Weimar Writers’ Congress. The objective of this demonic pact? Bewitch them so that, back home, they preach the good word of the totalitarian order. These different intellectuals – who are blinded, who are fascinated, who are desperate… – inevitably lead us, and from a new angle, towards major themes often addressed by opera and theater: Evil, the pact with the devil, the place and responsibility of artists in dark times, guilt, but also desire, hope and redemption.

“With Autumn tripI wanted to directly address the question of the active compromise of intellectuals with Nazism.”, Precise Bruno Mantovani. “But choosing the prism of Collaboration is also, I believe, a way of getting around the blind spot that is the Shoah itself. It is of the order of the unrepresentable. How do we stand? arrived there? I have no answer. I still read a lot on these subjects today – and the more I read, the less I understand.

To create this opera, Bruno Mantovani was inspired by an existing work : “At the time when I worked at Akhmatova (opera with a libretto by Christophe Ghristi, created at the Paris Opera in 2011), which recounted the life of the great Russian poet under the Stalinist regime, I read a lot of works on figures of intellectuals and artists facing dictatorships.”, raconte Bruno Mantovani. “And I came across that of François Dufay, The Autumn Journeywhich I devoured. From that moment, the desire to make it into an opera took hold.”

After which, work alongside Dorian Astor, the playwright of the National Capitol Opera started: “When Bruno Mantovani put Dufay’s work which documents this journey into my hands, I was immediately struck by its enormous dramaturgical potential.”explains Dorian Astor. “Beyond the real personalities, real types of theater appeared. There was first of all in these characters a prodigious paradox between a subtle self-hatred and an inordinate vanity: there we found the tragedy of souls tortured by a nihilistic impulse and the comedy of egos inflated to the point of ridicule.”

Based on rich historical documentation and numerous literary sources, the opera “Autumn Journey” explores the torments of the soul of very characterized characters, distant tragicomic heirs of Commedia dell’arte.

With a theme of this importance, the creative process was not easy for Bruno Mantovani.

[…] for three years, my only moments of decompression were spent bringing bastards to life…

Bruno Mantovani, composer and conductor

“I started writing at a time when I was entrusted with several new, very demanding roles, and I was also a young father…”he confides. “I composed late in the evening, when I found myself alone, which means that, for three years, my only moments of decompression were occupied in bringing bastards to life… I am no longer the same after this work, and so much the better. I’m not asking to come out of writing an opera unscathed.”

To counterbalance the weight of inhumanity, we had to give room for hope. Bruno Mantovani and Dorian Astor therefore created the character of “the Dreamer”, “the only woman, the only Jew, the only poet, the only innocent who has a voice in the work.”explains Dorian Astor. “She raises the voice of life, like a faint but eternal sparkle in the night and fog of this autumn journey.”

In a refined staging by Marie Lambert-Le Bihanthe Opéra du Capitole therefore invites you on an “intense and poetic journey through History and the eternal questions of Good and Evil that it poses”, November 22, 24, 26 and 28 at the Théâtre du Capitole.

France 3 Occitanie is a partner of the Opéra national du Capitole.