The jester's quarrel

Tatjana Gürbaca directs La Juive in Frankfurt (****½) [live]

Ambur Braid als Rachel © Monika Rittershaus

Whereas Heinrich Heine, a year before the premiere of La Juive, had referred to Fromental Halévy as an artist without the slightest spark of genius, the young Wagner admired him greatly. When, two years before his death, he witnesses a performance of La Juive in Naples, this admiration is still intact : "I was …