Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, marquise du Châtelet

was the first European woman in science. She was physicist & mathematician, also known for her translations of many philosophical works from Greek and Latin, and in particular for her translation of Principia Mathematica to French. At the same time, she was a very eccentric woman for her time  (she lived between 1706 and 1749). She was an amateur opera singer & actress, she played the harpsichord..., transgressed the rules of "proper female conduct" by practicing the horse-riding  and  fencing.... To that add the fact that she had many lovers, the most famous being Voltaire (who gave her the nickname  Émilie du Châtelet which is also the name of this new opera.)

Several fragments of life of this larger-than-life lady are subject of the new opera by Kaija Saariaho, the Finnish composer who lives and creates in Paris and whose L'amour de loin we actually liked. Her librettist, Amin Maalouf, prepared the new work, she composed the musics, François Girard (who will direct the new production of Parsifal next year in Lyon, which will then travel to the Met in 2012) produced the show, and a good orchestra conducted by one of our fav maestros, Kazushi Ono premiered  Émilie at  Opéra de Lyon, last Monday, March 1. Karita Mattila, for whom Kaija composed this 80 mins long opera-monologue, was singing.

 

Photo by Heidi Piiroinen