La Vestale

Julia is ready to break the law imposed upon her and allows her beloved Licinius to come to the place where she is supposed to guard a fire by night. The vestal, a priestess of the goddess Vesta, thus defies the “holy law” and the High Priest as its guardian. But she follows her love and thus human nature. For the chief vestal, however, love is a “barbarian monster” and enemy of the goddess Vesta, whose eternally burning flame is to be protected by the chaste vestals.

La Vestale, which premiered in Napoleonic Paris in 1807, was Gaspare Spontini’s greatest success to date. As Prussia’s general music director, Spontini conducted the Berlin Royal Opera from 1820 to 1841. With its large-scale scenes, La Vestale became one of the most successful operas of the nineteenth century. The complex use of the chorus, instrumental effects, and ballet scenes had an influence on composers such as Richard Wagner, and Hector Berlioz. In this production, director Lydia Steier, who recently brought Les Contes d’Hoffmann to the stage will trace out the brutal mechanisms of an autocratic regime.