Cadmus et Hermione, opéra de Jean-Baptiste Lully (prologue)

- Opéra (2008 - 2h) réalisé par Martin Fraudreau . Solistes, danseurs, choeur et orchestre du Poème Harmonique. Avec André Morsch : Cadmus - Claire Lefiliâtre : Hermione - Isabelle Druet : Charite, Melisse - Camille Poul : Amour, Pales - Arnaud Marzorati : Arbas, Pan - Jean-François Lombard : Nourrice, Echion. Vincent Dumestre : direction musicale Benjamin Lazar : mise en scène.

- 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 Ovids Metamorphoses. It was first performed on April 27, 1673, at the Paris Jeu 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.

A contemporary transcription of the overture by Jean-Henri dAnglebert remains a possible part of the harpsichord repertoire.

In early 2008, the French ensemble Le Poème Harmonique staged a performance of the opera in Paris and Rouen, among other places.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Jean-Baptiste Lully
• Cadmus et Hermione
• Benjamin Lazar