DANGEROUS RELATIONS

Freely inspired by DANGEROUS RELATIONS

by FRANÇOIS CHODERLOS DE LACLOS (1741-1803)

Translation by Deda Cristina Colonna, based on the original edition of 1787(Nantes Library)
Music by Bach, Couperin, Haendel, Krebs, Mattesohn, Scarlatti, Schaffrath,Vivaldi
Transcriptions by Massimiliano Toni

Direction Deda Cristina Colonna
Hats and props Anna Cavaliere

Ensemble The Third Practice
Deda Cristina Colonna and Chiara Petruzzelli, acting
Massimiliano Toni and Ignazio Schifani, harpsichord

Bellini Palace, Novara

Music Hall

1 June 2009

 The show is inspired by the enthralling intertwining of seduction, betrayals, subterfuges and passions of the famous epistolary novel of the same name by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. The actresses alternate with the two harpsichordists in a fast pace that stages libertine society and the condition of women against the backdrop of the Parisian aristocracy of the eighteenth century on the threshold of the French Revolution. The Viscount of Valmont, protagonist of the plot, it is represented by a puppet that comes alive when “worn” by the actresses. The cunning and perfidious Madame de Merteuil, the young Cécile, the respectable Madame de Volanges and the virtuous and passionate President of Tourvel are the female characters who tell the parable of Valmont, culminating in his death, in a mosaic of confessions that describes the cruel paradoxes of the female condition. The musical repertoire draws on all the European literature of the time with transcriptions and arrangements made ad hoc and an interpretation in the spirit of Sturm und Drang.