The Liebermann Years at the Paris Opera

The story of the Paris Opéra is one of unusual stability, punctuated by rapid quickenings of pace and crucial watershed moments. The start of Rolf Liebermann's seven-year tenure as Director of this three-hundred-year-old institution in 1973 also marked the beginning of an era that would combine both these phenomena. The 'Liebermann years' were a time simultaneously of restoration - to a level of performance on a par with the great international houses, and to the accompanying prestige - and of revolution in the organization's artistic and administrative policies.

On his departure from the Opéra in 1980, Rolf Liebermann gave his own account of his years there in his book En Passant par Paris. Thirty years on, to mark the centenary of his birth and the exhibition at the Palais Garnier, the Opéra National de Paris and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France have produced this timely re-examination of his achievement, complete with new material and numerous illustrations. In the intervening years, many of the productions staged under Liebermann - from Strehler's Les Noces de Figaro to Patrice Chéreau's Lulu - and the artists who performed in them - from Placido Domingo to Rudolf Nureyev - have attained near-mythical status. Here we discover them in the dazzling éclat of their early careers. The various essays that together build this portrait of Rolf Liebermann, expounding on his vocation as an administrator and exploring his artistic policies, are complemented by a gallery of photographs of the most significant productions from his years as Director. Comprehensive appendices, finally, offer a detailed overview of the performances of the legendary 'Liebermann years'.