The work

In this section, you can learn more about Kornilios Selamsis’ opera Offenbach’s La belle Hélène, and apply for a screening of its film version in your classroom.

Let’s watch the following animation video to find out what preceded the legend of the Beautiful Helen, how the Trojan War started, and most of all, what the story of the heroine of Kornilios Selamsis’ opera Offenbach’s La belle Hélène is.

The story begins at the Spartan agora, where all heroes have gathered and are discussing. Paris disguised as a shepherd meets the seer Calchas. He gives him a letter from goddess Aphrodite that makes Calchas realise who the shepherd really is. Paris tells the story of the apple of discord, explaining the reason why he is in Sparta. Helen is peeking at Paris and the two of them are soon introduced to each other. The action is moved to the Intelligence Tournament in Sparta, in which Greek kings and warriors and Paris are taking part. The tournament begins and Paris is the only one who finds all the right answers to the tests. Amidst a cheering crowd Paris is declared the big winner.

A month later and while Menelaus is on Crete, Helen spends her time knitting in her room. At night Paris stands outside her chamber. One evening he decides to knock on her door but Helen refuses to let him in. They just stay there talking to each other behind the closed door. When Paris gets angry and is ready to leave, Helen eventually decides to let him enter. Between dreaming and reality, she converses with Paris and the two of them become close. Yet all this stops with Menelaus’ unexpected arrival in Sparta. Menelaus accuses Helen of infidelity, things become complicated and Helen asks Paris to leave Sparta.

A week later all the heroes are in Nafplion, the summer resort of Sparta. There they are swimming, dancing and drinking. While they are endlessly partying, goddess Aphrodite, enraged by the Spartans who stood in the way of Paris and Helen’s affair, takes revenge on them by making Spartan women roam wildly, freely celebrating love and forgetting all social conventions. Helen and Menelaus continue fighting over her infidelity, while Agamemnon and Calchas are trying to convince Menelaus to let her go. A ship arrives in Nafplion. The ship enters the port and Paris appears disguised as the Great Seer of Aphrodite. Everyone welcomes him joyously and respectfully. Paris, as the Seer, asks for Helen to be transported to Kythera, saying that this is a request from goddess Aphrodite. While Helen recognises Paris, Menelaus and the rest of the heroes accept the goddess’ will and hand Helen over to the Great Seer.

The story ends with Helen leaving together with Paris while warning Menelaus and Agamemnon that her flight to Troy should not become the cause of a war, as Paris did not violently seize her; she decided to follow him of her own free will instead.

— Alexandra K*

As Kornilios Selamsis, the opera’s composer notes:

“This work, La belle Hélène, is a blend of two musical ventures: Offenbach’s old and popular comic operetta on the one hand and a new opera – or perhaps a music theatre work that carries inside it fragments of the past – on the other.”

Let’s listen to a typical excerpt bellow, where the constant shifting of the tonal centre – known as modulations in musical terminology – remould a 19th-century melody into a modern humorous aria.

As mentioned above by the director of the performance Offenbach’s La belle Hélène, the heroine’s story becomes topical by addressing issues relevant to today’s teenagers. This modern take is also reflected in Petros Touloudis’ scenographic approach, in which the digital world and the natural world intermingle, while the characters’ costumes are inspired by the aesthetic of Japanese anime.

The performance’s virtual environment is what also sets the background for the film version. As we can see in the making of video below, Kostis Theodosopoulos, the director of the film version of Offenbach’s La belle Hélène, places the characters in a colourful digital setting with strong elements of pop aesthetics.

Cast

Helen
Maria Tsironi

Bacchis
Marialena Politi

Paris
Katerina Alexiou

Achilles
Katerina Botoni

Ajax
Antonis Antoniadis

Menelaus
Nikos Ziaziaris

Agamemnon
Christos Rammopoulos

Calchas
Nikolas Karagiaouris

Instrumental Ensemble

Flute
Konstantinos Margaris

Clarinet
Ilias Skordilis

Saxophone
Guido de Flaviis

Trombone
Ioannis Kokkoris

Percussion
Panagiotis Koliavasilis

Keyboard
Tzeni Soulkouki

Violin
Zisimos Soulkoukis

Viola
Eleni Fourlanou

Violoncello
Maria Skandali

Contrabass
Konstantinos Sifakis

Producers
Phaedra Vokali
Thodoris Markou
Orestis Plakias

Executive producer
Stelios Kotionis

Television director
Kostis Theodosopoulos

Director of photography
Thodoris Markou

Artistic director
Petros Touloudis

Editing
Gevi Dimitrakopoulou

Executive producer
Giorgos Zervas

Make-up artists
Angelika Mouchsiadou
Nikoleta Lymberopoulou

Sound engineer
Aris Pavlidis

Post-production photography
Thodoris Markou & Foss Productions

Post-production sound
Foss Productions

Assistant to the television director
Evdokia Kalamitsi

Α΄ Camera operator
Konstantinos Kalavrezos

Β΄ Camera operator
Alexandros Masmanidis

Γ΄ Camera operator
Giannis Papanastasopoulos

Making of
Amalia Koveou

Gaffer
Vangelis Kontodimos

Set electrician
Theodosios Kostis

Assistant to the sound engineer
Dimitra Xeroutsikou

Assistant to the executive producer
Savvas Katirtzidis

Assistant to the producer
Andreas Leftheriotis

Production secretary
Anna Loudarou

Πλατό
BSK Deck

Filmmaking equipment rental
DK

Sound equipment rental
Hi Fi Power Ltd

Video projection equipment rental
Art of Sound

Video projections
Thodoris Vasilopoulos

Assistants to the video projection team
Giorgos Vasilopoulos
Chrysothemis Loukatou

The film was shot in Studio BSK on 27, 28 & 29 January 2023

From January to November 2023 the performance Offenbach’s La belle Hélène toured to 85 Junior High Schools in Attica and other regions of Greece, introducing, or in some cases re-introducing, opera to teenagers as a network similar to that of the school community, where conversation, sharing, and the feeling of belonging constitute the fundamental components of free expression, progress and development. The programme’s planning included a series of workshops conducted by music, theatre and art educators, with the goal of introducing students to opera, and preparing them to take part in the performance that would be given the next day. Through this participatory process, an artistic genre perhaps unfamiliar to them became familiar through experience and served as a means of empowerment and communication.

Kornilios Selamsis’ performance Offenbach’s La belle Hélène and the website Opera Box were designed and developed as part of the programme Opera Interactively Into Schools, which was co-funded by the European Union – European Social Fund (ESF) and National Resources NSRF 2014-2020 through the Operational Programme “Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning”.

For more information about the programme Opera Interactively Into Schools:
https://www.nationalopera.gr/sxoleia-opera-diadrastika