Now Playing: Cadmus et Hermoine

This week at Opéra Comique, Lully's tragic opera will be playing Cadmus and Hermoine till the 5th of november. It is an opera in 5 acts, the music is played by Le Poème Harmonique, they have performed this opera once before at the Opéra Comique, most of the opera can be found on youtube as the performance was filmed.
Below is a snippet of the opera for this year, with a brief introduction in French by Benjamin Lazar, the producer.



A little history about the opera:
The French-language libretto is by Philippe Quinault, after Ovid’s 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 d’Anglebert remains a possible part of the harpsichord repertoire.

For information about ticket registration, check out Opéra Comique's site.