''L'Europe galante'' (''Galant Europe'') is an
opéra-ballet
''Opéra-ballet'' (; plural: ''opéras-ballets'') is a genre of French Baroque lyric theatre that was most popular during the 18th century, combining elements of opera and ballet, "that grew out of the '' ballets à entrées'' of the early sevente ...
in a prologue and four entrées by
André Campra to a French
libretto by
Antoine Houdar de la Motte
Antoine Houdar de la Motte (18 January 167226 December 1731) was a French author.
De la Motte was born and died in Paris. In 1693 his comedy, ''Les Originaux'' (Les originaux, ou, l'Italien), was a complete failure, and so depressed the author ...
.
The opera is regarded as the first opéra-ballet, with the entrées sharing a common theme – in this case 'love' in four countries, France (entrée 1), Spain (entrée 2), Italy (entrée 3) and Turkey (entrée 4) – rather than a common narrative.
Performance history
''L'Europe Galante'' was first performed on 24 October 1697 by the
Paris Opéra
The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be k ...
under
Marin Marais
Marin Marais (; 31 May 1656, in Paris – 15 August 1728, in Paris) was a French composer and viol player. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully, often conducting his operas, and with master of the bass viol Monsieur de Sainte-Colomb ...
in the
Salle du Palais-Royal
Salle is the French word for 'hall', 'room' or 'auditorium', as in:
*Salle des Concerts Herz, a former Paris concert hall
*Salle Favart, theatre of the Paris Opéra-Comique
*Salle Le Peletier, former home of the Paris Opéra
*Salle Pleyel, a Paris ...
in Paris. It was successful and was revived periodically until 1775. In 1997 – on the 300th anniversary of its creation – Istanbul Baroque led by
Leyla Pınar
Leyla Pınar is a Turkish harpsichordist and musicologist. She is the founder and artistic director of the Istanbul Barok ensemble and the International Istanbul Baroque Music Festival, which she founded in 1994. Pınar also teaches in the Drama a ...
staged ''L'Europe Galante'' in Istanbul Dolmabahçe Palace. They then toured it to the Brussels Printemps baroque du Sablon festival the same year.
Roles
Sources
Further reading
*Anthony, James R. (1992), "Europe galante, L" in ''
The New Grove Dictionary of Opera
''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volu ...
'', ed.
Stanley Sadie (London)
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Europe Galante, L'
Opéras-ballets
Operas by André Campra
French-language operas
Operas
Opera world premieres at the Paris Opera
1697 operas