La Juive

La Juive (The Jewess) is a grand opera in five acts by Fromental Halévy to an original French libretto by Eugène Scribe; it was first performed at the Opéra, Paris, on February 23, 1835. La Juive was one of the most popular and admired works of the 19th century. Its libretto was the work of Eugène Scribe, one of the most prolific dramatic authors of the time. Scribe was writing to the tastes of the Opéra de Paris, where the work was first perform... more

La Juive (The Jewess) is a grand opera in five acts by Fromental Halévy to an original French libretto by Eugène Scribe; it was first performed at the Opéra, Paris, on February 23, 1835. La Juive was one of the most popular and admired works of the 19th century. Its libretto was the work of Eugène Scribe, one of the most prolific dramatic authors of the time. Scribe was writing to the tastes of the Opéra de Paris, where the work was first performed - a work in five acts presenting spectacular situations (here the Council of Constance of 1414), which would allow a remarkable staging, a setting which brought out a dramatic situation which was also underlined by a powerful historical subject. In addition to this, there was also the possibility of choral interludes, ballet and scenic effects which took advantage of the entire range of possibilities available at the Paris Opera. Through the story of an impossible love between a Christian man and a Jewish woman, the work may be seen as a... less