Ercole Amante
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''Ercole amante'' (''Hercules in Love'', French: ''Hercule amoureux'') is an opera in a prologue and five acts by
Francesco Cavalli Francesco Cavalli (born Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni; 14 February 1602 – 14 January 1676) was a Republic of Venice, Venetian composer, organist and singer of the early Baroque music, Baroque period. He succeeded his teacher Claudio Monteverd ...
. Its Italian libretto is by
Francesco Buti Francesco Buti (Narni, 1604 – Narni, 15 June 1682) was an Italian poet and librettist. Biography Abbot and doctor of law, he was secretary in Rome of Cardinal Antonio Barberini, nephew of Pope Urban VIII. In 1645 he emigrated to France with t ...
, based on Sophocles' '' The Trachiniae'' and on the ninth book of Ovid's '' Metamorphoses''. The first performance took place on 7 February 1662 in the Salle des Machines of the Tuileries in Paris.


Background

Cardinal Mazarin commissioned the opera to celebrate the June 1660 wedding of Louis XIV and Maria Theresa of Spain, but preparations for the staging were on a grand scale and caused a twenty-month delay, irritating the composer. Worse for him, eighteen ballet '' entrées'' and '' intermèdes'' with music by Isaac de Benserade and
Jean-Baptiste Lully Jean-Baptiste Lully ( , , ; born Giovanni Battista Lulli, ; – 22 March 1687) was an Italian-born French composer, guitarist, violinist, and dancer who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, he ...
were inserted, mostly at the ends of Cavalli's acts, to cater to French taste. These were not merely diversions but also served to further the plot,; and in the event they met with greater approval from the audience than ''Ercole amante'' itself, helping boost Lully's position at the French court.


Performance history

After its premiere the opera was given another seven times: 14 and 18 February; 18, 22, 25, and 29 April; and 6 May. The theatre was built specifically to present the opera, and if the construction costs of the theatre are included, it was the most expensive of the French court's theatrical productions mounted up to that point.


Roles


References

Notes Sources * *


External links

* {{Authority control 1662 operas Heracles in fiction Operas by Francesco Cavalli Operas Operas based on classical mythology Operas based on works by Sophocles Operas based on Metamorphoses