André Ernest Modest Grétry was baptized in the Church
of Our Lady of the Fonts, Liège, February 11, 1741,
Official records are unclear as to the day of his
birth. His baptismal notes only that he was the son of
François Grétry and Marie-Jeanne Ditches. He grew up
in Grétry (a village that bears his name), located
near Boulan (Bolland), near Herve, a few miles from
Liège, Belgium.
Le jugement de Midas (The Judgement of Midas) is a
French comédie mêlée d'ariettes (a kind of opÃ...(+)
André Ernest Modest Grétry was baptized in the Church
of Our Lady of the Fonts, Liège, February 11, 1741,
Official records are unclear as to the day of his
birth. His baptismal notes only that he was the son of
François Grétry and Marie-Jeanne Ditches. He grew up
in Grétry (a village that bears his name), located
near Boulan (Bolland), near Herve, a few miles from
Liège, Belgium.
Le jugement de Midas (The Judgement of Midas) is a
French comédie mêlée d'ariettes (a kind of opéra
comique), in three acts by André Grétry first
performed on 28 March 1778 in the apartments of Madame
de Montesson at the Palais-Royal in Paris. The libretto
is by the Irish playwright Thomas Hales (also known by
the French name Thomas d'Hèle) with additional
contributions by Louis Anseaume. It was based on the
play Midas (1760) by Kane O'Hara.
This opera is a satire of bourgeois society and
vaudeville of the French past. In opposition to a more
modern comic opera. Grétry demonstrated a real talent
as a cartoonist and comic.
Of the three arias, "Du destin qui t'accable" (The fate
that's overwelms you) is Act 1 Scene 2 from this work
and although written for Opera, this arrangement
features the Oboe and Piano.