Jacques Fromenthal Halevy 's La Juive, live from the Vienna State Opera. Mahler described this grandest of grand operas as one of the greatest ever created. The illicit love of a prince for a Jewess leads to a series of increasingly dramatic revelations which result in an overwhelmingly tragic finale. The spring-loaded plot by Scribe is set amidst the heraldic splendour of the 1414 Council of Constance. The opera remained one of the cornerstones of the French Opera long after its magnificent premiere in 1835. Vienna State Opera Chorus and Orchestra, conductor Simone Young Act
7.15 Graeme Kay investigates the background to La Juive and its place in the history of French grand opera.
7.35 Acts 2 and 3 9.00 Rebuilding the House
Marcel Prawy talks to Moore Parker about the Vienna State Opera in the years after the Second World War.
9.20 Acts 4 and 5 SOUNDING THE CENTURY