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...(+)
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.
Although originally written for Orchestra, I created
this arrangement for Woodwind Quintet (Flute, Oboe, Bb
Clarinet, French Horn and Bassoon).
PARTITION