Anne de Bretagne is a
rock opera by
Alan Simon, based on the life of
Anne of Brittany. The story follows the historical events that made her the last Duchess of independent
Brittany and twice-crowned queen of France.
Background
In 2007, Alan Simon visited an exhibition about Anne of Brittany at the
Château des ducs de Bretagne. He got the idea to write an opera about Anne after seeing the
reliquary of her heart; he then spent months researching her life. He wanted to write an opera connected to Brittany, and decided on Anne because "in spite of the hundreds of streets, hotels and schools that carried her name, no one knew her story".[1] He wrote the opera based on
Renaissance music,
classical music and
folk rock.[2]
Performances and recording
The recording for the studio album took place between August 2007 and February 2009, with more than 200 musicians participating. The first two performances took place on 29 and 30 June 2009, at
Nantes, in the courtyard of the
castle of the Dukes of Brittany. On this occasion, the show was played in front of nearly 6000 people. The live show was recorded and later released on CD and DVD. Costumes for the show were designed by Jeanine Lérin-Cagnet and Elise Bossard.
On 5–11 November 2010, a
folk rock version of Anne de Bretagne was performed in
Ploemeur,
Nantes,
Quimper and
Rennes. This version had some changes compared to the original show—it was more
acoustic and did not have the
bagad or symphony orchestra. There was also a new narrator, as
Jean-Claude Dreyfus could not participate in the tour. For this tour, the narrator was Jean-Louis Jossic, who also played the role of Louis XII.
On 19 September 2014, the show was performed in
Vannes as part of Celti'Vannes, a Breton cultural festival. The festival coincided with the 500th anniversary of
Anne of Brittany's death.[2]
Characters
Duchess
Anne of Brittany, Queen of France, wife of two kings of France.