Halevy: La Juive

La Juive is a spectacular five-act grand opera with high drama, gigantic set pieces, and thrilling music – the Romantic era’s version of Cinemascope. Seldom mounted today due to cost, it can still be greatly enjoyed in the theater of the imagination. Live performance of an important modern revival in London, 1973. This was one of the great tenor Richard Tucker’s last appearances in public, at age 60, not long before his death. And it is one of the most emotional stage appearances ever captured on disc: when he sings the opera’s most dramatic aria, “Rachel, quand du Seigneur,” the audience goes wild. Jacques Halévy (1799–1862) studied at the Paris Conservatory with Cherubini and at age 20 won the highest student honor, the Prix de Rome. He was immediately engaged as a professor, and taught harmony, counterpoint and composition for many years to students such as Gounod,Massé, Saint-Saëns, Lecocq, and also Bizet, who married one of his daughters after his death. Despite his heavy academic responsibility, Halévy composed 38 lyric works for the stage, a majority of them light operas, but ten in the French “grand opera” form. "A viable masterpiece…with great musical and theatrical force…this performance is one of real commitment; no one holds back in an effort to recreate some of the excitement this music generated in its time…Tucker makes the most of this opportunity, bringing down the house with his ringing tone and emotional outpouring…Anton Guadagno leads a performance which is dramatically taut… the live recorded sound is excellent for the period.” — OPERA NEWS