Page 14 - Programme

Opera Interactively Into Schools 14

A few words La belle Hélène is one of the greatest successes of
composer Jacques Offenbach, the father of French
about Jacques operetta – a genre that offered music and entertainment
using Napoleon III and his court as its usual target. The
Offenbach’s highly humoristic operetta, with its upbeat rhythm, was
first performed at the Théâtre des Variétés in Paris on
La belle Hélène 17 December 1864, winning over audiences and critics
alike. The newspapers of the time noted that every
evening the theatre was packed with forward-thinking
audiences who enjoyed its satirical plot and excellent
music.
The work is based on the known Greek myth and it
is set in Sparta and Nafplion. It presents the heroine
as a symbol of the individual’s personal freedom and
release from social conventions. In this much-loved
comic operetta, enduringly topical Offenbach portrays
his time –a time characterised by the lust for money and
amusement–, stirring up audiences with the unchanging
issues of nepotism, false morality and corruption of
power.
But what makes our Hélène different from the rest? Is it
a story with a different plot twist, set in a different time
and space, or is this a case of a different kind of Hélène
who has a bigger say in her own story? Let’s read the
synopsis of our Hélène’s story carefully, to make our first
acquaintance with her.