Symphoniker Hamburg / Clara-Jumi Kang / Ilan Volkov

Time for a celebration! On 18 October 1748, the Peace of Aachen put an end to the eight-year War of the Austrian Succession. For the celebrations, an »opéra pour la paix« (opera for peace) was commissioned from the Paris Opera, to which two leading artists lent their pens: Louis de Cahusac for the libretto and the already 66-year-old Jean-Philippe Rameau for the music. The two consummate professionals needed less than five weeks before »Naïs« could go on stage with great pomp: opulent décor with a magnificent Neptune Palace, new costumes with real jewellery and pyrotechnic effects! Rameau’s overture traces »the din of war, the clamour and the tumultuous movements of the Titans and giants«, from which the love story from the ancient world of man and god develops.