Echo & Narcissus opera by Gluck

After five consecutive triumphs at the Paris Opéra since 1774, which ensured his place as the reformer of French opera, Chevalier Gluck, also known as the Bohemian Juggler, was adulated by the public and protected by Queen Marie-Antoinette.
The new commission from the Royal Academy of Music would also be his last work: Écho & Narcisse, based on Ovid's Metamorphoses, premiered in Paris in 1779. With a style more reminiscent of a pastoral than a heroic tragedy, it disconcerted the audience who had come to see Gluck's new innovative exploit: above all, it was a tribute to the splendour of the French tradition that he had composed. Disappointed by this reception, Gluck left for Vienna and stopped composing.
Since then, Écho & Narcisse has been waiting for its chance to be heard and appreciated by the public.

It was a meeting between the Concert Spirituel and the Fondation Etrillard, whose mission is to rediscover forgotten works, that brought Gluck's opera out of the shadows. This event is also an opportunity to bring together music and the art of tapestry, embodied by two pieces from the Fondation Etrillard collection. These are Narcisse admirant son reflet (Narcissus admiring his reflection), produced around 1630 after a cartoon by Simon Vouet, and Écho et Narcisse (Echo & Narcissus), woven at the Manufacture des Gobelins around 1700 after Antoine Dieu. These two works were presented to the public during the concert at the Opéra Royal.

Hervé Niquet and a brilliant cast resurrect Gluck's ultimate work for recording and concert. The fates of the nymph Echo, who can only repeat ad infinitum the last word she hears, and the proud Narcissus, condemned to love only his own reflection, are worthy of a baroque opera.