HERMÈS, scarf, “Fleurs de L'Opera”, design Julia Abadie 1989.

fouldar side, approx. 90x90 cm. Labelled, long car tag in French and English.

Motif with flowers that refer to various opera works.
The lilac, is part of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, in which the protagonist Sachs sings “What smells if not the lilac...” in the second act.
Faust by Charles Gounod is loosely based on Goethe's Faust. Here in the Floral Garden, Marguerite swaps the flowers of her young admirer for jewels that Faust, who has sold his soul to the devil, gives her to win her heart.
In Bizet's Carmen, Carmen wears a red carnation (oeillets rouges) behind her ear.
The wedding bouquet (Bouquet de Noces) belongs to Mozart's The Wedding of Figaro.
In Puccini's Madama Butterfly, the opera is associated with cherry blossoms.
Act III of La Bohème mentions lily and rose, but the lily also symbolizes Puccini's other famous opera. The Roses Go to the Rose Cavalier by Richard Strauss. In Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni, orange blossoms are essential, as the opera is set on Easter morning in a Sicilian village where people sing about the sweet scent of orange blossoms.
In Francesco Cilea's opera Adriana Lecouvreur, Adriana gives violets to her lover.
Last but not least, Aida by Verdi, an opera set in ancient Egypt, is represented by the palm leaf on this scarf.Show more

Condition

Minor stain. Stitches released at one edge of the label.

Theme

Hermès scarves