Racine's three Eastern tragedies ('Athalie', 'Bajazet', 'Esther')

Henri Ronse, the manager of the Anjou Festival, has wished to establish a f estival of French tragedy with the association of Jean-Claude Magloire. To Moreau's music, the audience of Athalie walked through Fontevraud from the cloister to the inside of the church. Esther was performed in the refectory , in Eastern-like costumes, while the members of the orchestra and chorus, in the gallery, were clad in a Louis XIV style; but Bajazet was created at the Theatre of Angers in a sort of ruin. First designed as an oratorio, Est her was presented by Francoise Seigner in an importnat production, with the orchestra in the orchestra-pit of the Theatre-Francais. Athalie was couple d with Dom Juan by Planchon in a diptych about power and religion.