After the Norwegian performances and the recordings of Grétry’s Raoul Barbe-Bleue and Philidor’s Ernelinde princesse de Norvège in association with the CMBV, the Orkester Nord under conductor Martin Wåhlberg played in the Palace of Versailles for the first time.

Considered highly modern when it came out, Ernelinde now unveils its beauty to today’s audiences. Philidor, with this work in 1767, paved the way for Gluck and a new brand of French opera during Louis XVI‘s reign. With music inspired by Pergolesi, a drama condensed into three Acts, a virtuoso heroic libretto and visually pleasing ballets the score was extremely unusual for its time. This revival offered the CMBV a chance to research into historical performance practices at a pivotal moment in music, when Baroque gave way to French classical music.