''L'Europe galante'' (''Galant Europe'') is an
opéra-ballet in a prologue and four entrées by
André Campra
André Campra (; baptized 4 December 1660 – 29 June 1744) was a French composer and conductor of the Baroque era. The leading French opera composer in the period between Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau, Campra wrote several '' tra ...
to a French
libretto
A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...
by
Antoine Houdar de la Motte.
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 under
Marin Marais 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 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'', ed.
Stanley Sadie
Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was publ ...
(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