PSYCHÉ Tragédie lyrique in 5 acts with prologue Composer : Jean-Baptiste Lully Libretto : Thomas Corneille & Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle First performed : Académie Royale de Musique (1re salle du Palais-Royal), Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 19 April 1678 We’re jumping over Isis (1677) on our journey through Lully’s operas. it’s supposed to be one of his richest scores – … Continue reading 107. Psyché (Lully)
Tragédie lyrique in a prologue and 5 acts Composer: Jean-Baptiste Lully Libretto: Philippe Quinault First performed: Académie royale de musique, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, before Louis XIV, 3 February 1675; then at the Opéra (1re salle du Palais-Royal), April 1675, conducted by the composer Thésée was one of Lully’s most enduring successes. First performed before Louis XIV in 1675, it … Continue reading 106. Thésée (Lully)
CADMUS ET HERMIONE Tragédie in 5 acts and a prologue Composer: Jean-Baptiste de Lully Librettist: Philippe Quinault First performed: Paris, jeu de paume de Bel-Air, 27 April 1673 The father of French opera was an Italian. The young Giovanni Battista Lulli accompanied Louis XIV’s cousin Anne-Marie-Louise d’Orléans, duchess of Montpensier, “the Grand Mademoiselle”, to France as her … Continue reading 70. Cadmus et Hermione (Lully) – revised
ALCESTE, OU LE TRIOMPHE D'ALCIDE Tragédie en musique in a prologue and 5 acts Composer : Jean-Baptiste Lully Librettist : Philippe Quinault, after Euripides’ Alcestis First performed : Théâtre du Palais-Royal, 19 January 1674, then at Saint-Germain, finally in Paris Epiphany: Lully is fun. His operas are, after all, full of lively, toe-tapping dances; brilliant choruses; and plenty … Continue reading 105. Alceste (Lully)
Tragédie-opéra in 3 acts First performed : Académie Royale de Musique, April 12 1774 Composer : Ritter Christoph Willibald Gluck Libretto : M. du Rollet, after Racine and Euripides “From Gluck’s appearance dates modern art; from him come all the great masters who have enchanted the world both during his life, and after his death.” – Barbedette Iphigénie … Continue reading 101. Iphigénie en Aulide (Gluck)
Well, here we are; a century down, and still not dead. I’ve always wanted to use my blog to argue the case for obscure works. This is the first of a new series: presentations of operas that haven’t been performed in living memory; from which at most only a few extracts may have been recorded … Continue reading 100. Patrie! (Emile Paladilhe)
Operette bouffe in 1 act Composer: Jacques Offenbach and M. de Saint Rémy [pseudonym of the Duc de Morny]. Libretto: Ludovic Halévy, Hector Crémieux, et Ernest L’Epine First performed: Salons du Corps législatif, Palais Bourbon, 31 May 1861, in the presence of Napoléon III. First public performance: Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, 14 September 1861 M. Choufleuri (“Mr Cauliflower”), a … Continue reading 98. M. Choufleuri restera chez lui le… (Jacques Offenbach)
