Orphee - opera title page (Louis de Lully)

Orphée �rfeə(''Orpheus'') is an opera by the French composer Louis Lully, with contributions from his brother Jean-Baptiste Lully the Younger. It was first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique (the

Paris Opera 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 ...

) on 21 February 1690. It takes the form of a ''

tragédie en musique Tragédie en musique (, ''musical tragedy''), also known as tragédie lyrique (, ''lyric tragedy''), is a genre of French opera introduced by Jean-Baptiste Lully and used by his followers until the second half of the eighteenth century. Operas in t ...

'' in three acts and a prologue. The libretto is by

Michel Duboullay Michel Duboullay or Du Boullay (1676 in Paris – 1751 in Rome) was a French librettist.. Secretary of the Grand Prieur de Vendôme, Duboullay authored the librettos of two operas: ''Zéphyre et Flore'' opera-ballet in three acts and a prologue ...

. This opera was created as a satirical response to Louis Lully's father's tragicomedie et ballet, "Ballet de Psyche," which proclaimed the greatness of King Louis XIV's power and the calm that occurred because of his reign. Louis Lully chose the story of Orpheus in relation to the monarch as a commentary on the villainous tendencies of his rule of France. Prologue *The audience sees an empty theatre with the back

Portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

showing the raging of a cold winter's night. Venus, the goddess of Love and mother of Orpheus, comes in front of the audience and shows her disapproval for 'useless pomp' and the horrors of War, referencing the

Nine Years' War The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarch ...

, which as of 1690, has now entered its third year. She laments her son, Orpheus, although the state of her son is unclear from the description provided. The 'Games and Pleasures' (unclear what is being referenced by the description) make their appearance on stage, as well as Cupid and Charites (The Graces).

Sources

*
Libretto at "Livres baroques"

Félix Clément and Pierre Larousse ''Dictionnaire des Opéras'', Paris, 1881
page 502. * https://books.google.com/books?id=qxiHDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT150&lpg=PT150&dq=Louis+de+Lully+Orphee&source=bl&ots=Dd2kD_0bTM&sig=ACfU3U3SzuBdo3KDq2hEd5dWuk_B54bB7A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj8jfPylrnpAhXUl3IEHX2GA3cQ6AEwFnoECCIQAQ#v=onepage&q=Louis%20de%20Lully%20Orphee&f=false], search the words 'Louis de Lully Orphee' * ouis XIV and the Land of Love and Adventure: 1679 to 1699, by K. F. Oelkehttps://books.google.com/books?id=542dDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT218&lpg=PT218&dq=Louis+de+Lully+Orphee&source=bl&ots=s6oYy5lYRL&sig=ACfU3U1veE5IiMzIzCO9JQsHuHC2Tuih8Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj8jfPylrnpAhXUl3IEHX2GA3cQ6AEwHHoECCEQAQ#v=onepage&q=Louis%20de%20Lully%20Orphee&f=false, search the words 'Louis de Lully Orphee' * heet music, https://imslp.org/wiki/Orph%C3%A9e_(Lully,_Louis) French-language operas Tragédies en musique Operas 1690 operas Operas about Orpheus {{french-opera-stub