Cecilia Bartoli, Mission : Agostino Steffani in Versailles

(concert)
Music / Documentary
France, 2012, 61 min

Directed by:

Olivier Simonnet

Plots(1)

A strange character in a cassock walks through the courtyard of a quiet palace. The marble busts decorating the facades are staring blankly, the sky is filled with menacing clouds... The man stops, hesitates, and then comes in. More than three centuries after his first appearance, the mysterious composer is back at the Château de Versailles. Suddenly, rustling and sparkling in her golden blue silk dress, a woman shows up, singing a frenzied air. Alone or with a chorus, as an outraged queen or enamoured, princess Cecilia Bartoli along with Philippe Jaroussky, performs and embodies with passion the operas set to music by the composer priest. Cecilia Bartoli sings and her voice transports us within Louis XIV's chambers, under the gold of the Hall of Mirrors, between the Salon de Vénus' brown marbles or the mysterious groves in the palace's park. Hidden in the obscurity by the singer the musician priest decided to win over the Sun King's castle with his music... (official distributor synopsis)

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