Don Quichotte

November 19. 2016 - December 07. 2016

Upcoming Dates

November 19. 2016 - December 07. 2016

New-to-Chicago Production Don Quichotte

By

More than half a century before Man of La Mancha, Massenet brought Cervantes’s universally beloved dreamer Don Quixote to the operatic stage. Inspired by the greatest of all Spanish novels, Don Quichotte is the story of an eccentric idealist and self-proclaimed knight errant who tilts at windmills and fights for the honor of his lady Dulcinée. The opera combines Massenet’s fabulously atmospheric music with his own matchless theatrical flair to conjure a Spain that abounds with energy and spirit, beauty, and hope. Legendary bass Ferruccio Furlanetto bringing this signature role to vivid life with Sir Andrew Davis conducting in a production that is as gorgeous to see as it is to hear.

  • Language: Performed in French with projected English translations
  • Running Time: 2 hours 30 minutes including 1 intermission
  • Location: Lyric Opera House

Don Quichotte

by Jules Massenet

Recording by EMI – Van Dam, Bergonza, Fondary, Rivenq, cond. Plasson.
Musical excerpts provided through generous arrangement with Warner Classics, Official Education and Promotion Music Provider for Lyric Opera of Chicago.

"Alza, alza!...Quand la femme a vingt ans"

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“Regarde!...Géant, géant, monstrueux cavalier”

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Don Quichotte

by Jules Massenet

Lyric Opera Commentaries are sponsored by the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Foundation in memory of their parents.

© 2016/17 Lyric Opera Commentaries
Musical excerpts provided through generous arrangement with Warner Classics, Official Education and Promotion Music Provider for Lyric Opera of Chicago. All rights reserved. Recording & Production services provided by Mark Travis.
A project of the Women's Board.

Synopsis

In a small Spanish town a beautiful young woman, Dulcinée, is wooed by many men, but she hopes to meet a noble knight. The aging Don Quichotte and his servant, Sancho Pança, arrive in the town. Enchanted by Dulcinée, Quichotte offers to serve her. She asks him to bring back a necklace that bandits stole from her. Along the way, he mistakes windmills for giants interfering with his quest and battles against them. Meeting the bandits, he touches their hearts and they gladly give back the necklace. Quichotte returns it to Dulcinée, who laughs at his proposal of marriage but later admits that she feels unworthy of Quichotte’s devotion. On a mountain path Quichotte is resting as Sancho comforts him. He dies thinking of Dulcinée.

PLACE: In and around a small town in Spain.

Program book

Go inside this production of Don Quichotte with engaging articles, notes from the director, a complete plot synopsis, artist bios, and more.

View Digital Program Book

Meet the artists

* Lyric debut

Lyric Opera presentation of Massenet’s Don Quichotte generously made possible by

Howard L. Gottlieb and Barbara Greis

Walter E. Heller Foundation

Don Quichotte is a production of San Diego Opera.

Photo: Todd Rosenberg