I’m putting this in GQ because I’d like to know whether there’s any factual basis to this claim.
Over the weekend I read one of those “interesting facts” articles in a magazine. It related to the opera *Charles VI * by the French composer Fromental Halévy. It suggested that the opera contained a “jinxed” aria. Supposedly at each of the first three performances of the opera in 1843 a death occurred when this aria was sung:
- on the first night one of the stage crew;
- on the second night one of the audience; and
- on the third night a member of the orchestra.
As a result the opera has not been performed since.
Does anyone know whether this is really true? I find it all pretty hard to believe. A quick search hasn’t turned up any references to jinxed arias but has established that one aspect, the “never since performed” bit, is clearly untrue since there was a revival performance last year in Compiègne in France.