Jean-Baptiste Lully [or Loeillet] (1632 – 1687) was a
Florentine-born French composer who spent most of his
life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He is
considered the chief master of the French baroque
style. Lully disavowed any Italian influence in French
music of the period. He became a French subject in
1661.
Cadmus et Hermione is a tragédie en musique in a
prologue and five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully. The
French-language libretto is by Philippe Quinault, after
Ovidâ€...(+)
Jean-Baptiste Lully [or Loeillet] (1632 – 1687) was a
Florentine-born French composer who spent most of his
life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He is
considered the chief master of the French baroque
style. Lully disavowed any Italian influence in French
music of the period. He became a French subject in
1661.
Cadmus et Hermione is a tragédie en musique in a
prologue and five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully. The
French-language libretto is by Philippe Quinault, after
Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It was first performed on April
27, 1673, by the Paris Opera at the Jeu de paume de
Béquet.
The prologue, in praise of King Louis XIV, represents
him as Apollo slaying the Python of Delphi. The opera
itself concerns the love story of Cadmus, legendary
founder and king of Thebes, Greece, and Hermione
(Harmonia), daughter of Venus and Mars. Other
characters include Pallas Athene, Cupid, Juno, and
Jupiter.
With Cadmus et Hermione, Lully invented the form of the
tragédie en musique (also known as tragédie lyrique).
From contemporary Venetian opera, Lully incorporated
elements of comedy among the servants, elements which
he would later avoid, as would subsequent reformers in
Italian opera.
Amadis or Amadis de Gaule (Amadis of Gaul) is a
tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts by
Jean-Baptiste Lully to a libretto by Philippe Quinault
based on Nicolas Herberay des Essarts' adaptation of
Garci RodrÃguez de Montalvo's Amadis de Gaula. It was
premiered by the Paris Opera at the Théâtre du
Palais-Royal sometime from January 15 to 18, 1684.
There was a later production at Versailles without
scenery or machines in 1685.
Amadis was the first tragédie en musique to be based
on chivalric rather than mythological themes; Lully's
last three completed operas followed in this course.
Louis XIV of France chose the theme. In the dance
troupe the principal male dancers were Pierre
Beauchamp, Louis-Guillaume Pécour and Lestang, and the
principal female dancers were La Fontaine, Carré and
Pesan. There were eight revivals of the opera in Paris
between 1687 and 1771. Between 1687 and 1729 it was
produced in Amsterdam, The Hague, Marseille, Rouen,
Brussels, Lunéville, Lyon, and Dijon. Today the most
famous aria from Amadis is Amadis' much anthologized
monologue from act two, "Bois épais". At the beginning
of the same act Arcabonne sings "Amour, que veux-tu de
moy?", as once did 'every cook in France', according to
Le Cerf de la Viéville (Comparaison, 1704–6)
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Lully).
Although originally written for Ballet, I created this
Arrangement of "Bois épais" from "Amadis de Gaule"
(LWV 63 A2 S4) for French Horn & Strings (2 Violins, 2
Violas, Cello & Bass).
