Composer: Jean-Baptiste LullyLibretto: Philippe Quinault, after Aristo's Orlando FuriosoFirst performed: Versailles, 8 January 1685 Lully considered Roland his best opera. It certainly contains some of his best music, but the story is insubstantial and over-extended. The opera is based on an episode in Ariosto's epic poem Orlando Furioso (1516), a chivalric romance full of warring Christians … Continue reading 114. Roland (Lully)
AMADIS (DE GAULE) Opéra in a prologue and 5 acts Composer: Jean-Baptiste Lully Libretto: Philippe Quinault First performed: Théâtre du Palais-Royal, Paris, January 1684 For the first time, French opera leaves the world of the Greek heroes and gods, for mediaeval romance. Amadis, like all good heroes of chivalry, is separated from his parents at … Continue reading 113. Amadis (Lully)
PERSÉE Tragédie lyrique in a prologue and 5 acts Composer : Jean-Baptiste Lully Libretto : Philippe Quinault First performed : Académie royale de musique (1re salle du Palais-Royal), 17 April 1682, conducted by the composer ; Versailles, June 1682 Quinault's libretti remove the imagination of the Greek myths, petrifying them, as if with the Gorgon's head, into bland and … Continue reading 110. Persée (Lully)
PROSERPINE Tragédie lyrique in a prologue and 5 acts Composer: Jean-Baptiste Lully Librettist : Philippe Quinault First performed : Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 3 February 1680; Acadëmie royale de musique (1re salle du Palais-Royal), 16 November 1680, conducted by Lully Persephone, daughter of Demeter, was abducted from the sunny hillside where she and her companions were gathering flowers, and dragged … Continue reading 109. Proserpine (Lully)
BELLÉROPHON Tragédie lyrique in a prologue and 5 acts Composer : Jean-Baptiste Lully Libretto : Thomas Corneille & Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle First performed : Académie royale de musique, théâtre du Palais-Royal, Paris, 31 January 1679 Bellérophon was one of Lully’s most successful works, performed continuously for nine months from its premiere in January to October. “I … Continue reading 108. Bellérophon (Lully)
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)
