Back on Stage: 3 May 2018

The Mikhailovsky Theatre turns to the opera that became a cornerstone of the French opera repertoire. La Juive by Jacques François Fromental Halévy is a masterpiece of grand style of the early 19th century. In the productions of the grand style visual effects prevailed over the musical and dramatic logic, however, very soon the trend was conceived as a most convincing implementation of the synthetic nature of musical theatre. The opera combines the elements of lyricism, dramatism and sonority. La Juive is notable for its brilliant vocal parts and complex ensembles.

Musical Director of the revival: Dmitri Korchak
Director of the revival: Yulia Prokhorova
Assistants to the Director of the revival: Elena Piskunova, Vyacheslav Kalyuzhny
Consultant in the French language: Daria Mitrofanova
Director of the Extras: Irina Kuzmina
Surtitles: Margarita Kunitsyna-Tankevich



The production at the Mikhailovsky Theatre by the French stage director Arnaud Bernard and stage designer Herbert Murauer adapts the arresting storyline to modern times.

The unique personality means nothing for the impersonal wheels of state and the opposition is treated taking into account the experience of several generations, who really know the nature of totalitarianism. The opera is set in the city of Constance in 1414 during the time of persecution of Jews. Through the story of an impossible love between a Christian man and a Jewish woman, the work may be seen as a plea for religious tolerance.


La Juive was one of the most popular and admired operas of the 19th century. Its libretto (text) was the work of Eugène Scribe, the prolific dramatic author. Scribe was writing to the tastes of the Opéra de Paris, where the work was first performed – a work in five acts presenting spectacular situations (here the Council of Constance of 1414), which would allow a flamboyant staging in a setting which brought out a dramatic situation which was also underlined by a powerful historical subject. In addition to this, there could be choral interludes, ballet and scenic effects which took advantage of the entire range of possibilities available at the Paris Opera.

Because of the story of an impossible love between a Christian man and a Jewish woman, the work has been seen by some as a plea for religious tolerance, in much the same spirit as Nathan the Wise, which premiered in 1779, Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots which premiered in 1836, a year after La Juive, as well as the 1819 novel Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott which deals with the same theme. At the time of composition, the July Monarchy had liberalised religious practices in France. Meyerbeer and Halévy were both Jewish, and storylines dealing with topics of tolerance were common in their operas. However, reviews of the initial performances show that journalists of the period responded to the liberalism and to the perceived anti-clericalism of Scribe's text, rather than to any specifically Jewish theme.

Some believe that the libretto of La Juive has a goal of reconsidering the status of Jews in French society. Others believe that the clichéd portrayal of the Jew Eléazar as secretive, vengeful and materialistic does not bear out this interpretation.