The book-disc by the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra will be available from April 12

Starting from April 12th, the romantic drama “Déjanire” by Camille Saint-Saëns will be available in book-disc format, recorded in 2022 by the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Monte-Carlo Opera Choir, conducted by Kazuki Yamada.

You can find it at all regular retail outlets and on digital platforms.

“It will be a strange score: it will not please at all, or it will be immensely pleasing,” prophesied Camille Saint-Saëns a few days before the creation of “Déjanire.” Donated to Monte Carlo on March 14, 1911, the score draws from a stage music written in 1898 for the Arènes de Béziers. Passionate about the subject, the composer wanted to give it a second, more ambitious life quickly. The ancient peplos he imagines then inspires Gabriel Fauré with “powerfully evocative music,” struck by the strength of the choral writing.

However, the romantic drama that tears the heart of the heroine favors hopelessly romantic duets and leads to the public immolation of Hercules, inflamed by the poisoned tunic offered to him by the fallen queen. This new “Déjanire” receives praise from critics, who came in droves to discover it in the principality of Monaco. But the paths of modernity undertaken by French opera at the time will not allow the work to survive the upheavals of the First World War. It would have been a shame to prolong this unjust ostracism further.

The recording took place from October 12th to 16th, 2022 at the Auditorium Rainier III, Monaco.