About the work
Charles VI is a five-act grand opera by Fromental Halévy to a libretto by the brothers Casimir and Germain Delavigne, centred on the French king Charles VI as he fights English invaders while suffering bouts of madness. It premiered on 15 March 1843 at the Paris Opéra (Salle Le Peletier) and became Halévy's last great success at that house.
Plot
The librettists' invented character Odette – a forerunner of Joan of Arc – foils a conspiracy by Queen Isabeau and the Englishman Bedford to replace the rightful Dauphin with Bedford's own son. In the closing scene at the Abbey of Saint-Denis, the dying king and the French nobility swear to secure the Dauphin's succession.
Cultural significance
Critics praised above all the lavish sets and the king's madness scenes; the chorus 'Guerre aux tyrans' quickly became a popular patriotic song and lived on after the 1848 Revolution as a rallying cry against foreign rule. After 61 performances by 1850 and a revival at the Théâtre Lyrique in 1870, the opera nearly vanished from the stage, returning only in 2010 at the Théâtre impérial de Compiègne under director Pierre Jourdan.