Orchestre Victor Hugo

A regular partner of the Dijon Opera, the Orchestre Victor Hugo performs some of the most beautiful pages of Wagner's symphonies: Preludes, Interludes
and Overtures bear witness to the sorcery of the 'Enchanter'.

Siegfried's Idyll, a little gem given as a Christmas present to his wife Cosima in 1870, symbolises the perfection of Wagner's orchestral art. Although Wagner was a great innovator of lyric drama, it was not by chance that he was admired by the great symphonists Mahler and Bruckner, among others. His confounding art of the orchestra shines through in his Preludes and Overtures, such as the illustrious Tannhäuser, where the solemn "Pilgrims' Song" contrasts with the languid chromaticism of the Venusberg. Tristan's 'Prelude and Death of Isolde' displays its unrivalled charms in terms of the inexorable rise of the orchestra in slow steps to the climax of erotic romanticism. Nature is sublimated in Siegfried's 'Whispers of the Forest', an indescribable sonic experience with enchanting textures. With its ethereal melodies and unheard-of effects, it's hardly surprising that Luchino Visconti replied, when asked who was the best composer of film music: "Richard Wagner, of course!