# Opera question: is there really a jinxed aria in Halévy's opera Charles VI?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opera-question-is-there-really-a-jinxed-aria-in-halevys-opera-charles-vi/350012>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 27, 2006, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opera-question-is-there-really-a-jinxed-aria-in-halevys-opera-charles-vi/350012 "2006-03-27T00:31:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opera-question-is-there-really-a-jinxed-aria-in-halevys-opera-charles-vi/350012/1 "2006-03-27T00:31:47Z")

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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.

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**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opera-question-is-there-really-a-jinxed-aria-in-halevys-opera-charles-vi/350012/2 "2006-03-28T05:23:38Z")

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One bump before it disappears into the abyss of the archives.

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**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\
**Post date:** [March 28, 2006, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opera-question-is-there-really-a-jinxed-aria-in-halevys-opera-charles-vi/350012/3 "2006-03-28T05:47:09Z")

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I couldn’t find any references to this anywhere.