''Amadis'' or ''Amadis de Gaule'' (Amadis of Gaul) is 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 a prologue and five acts by

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 ...

to a

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 ...

Philippe Quinault Philippe Quinault (; 3 June 1635 – 26 November 1688), French dramatist and librettist, was born in Paris. Biography Quinault was educated by the liberality of François Tristan l'Hermite, the author of ''Marianne''. Quinault's first play w ...

based on Nicolas Herberay des Essarts' adaptation of

Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo (; c. 1450 – 1505) was a Castilian author who arranged the modern version of the chivalric romance '' Amadis of Gaul'', originally written in three books in the 14th century by an unknown author. Montalvo incorpora ...

's '' Amadis de Gaula''. It was premiered by 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 ...

at the

Théâtre du Palais-Royal The Théâtre du Palais-Royal () is a 750-seat Parisian theatre at 38 rue de Montpensier, located at the northwest corner of the Palais-Royal in the Galerie de Montpensier at its intersection with the Galerie de Beaujolais. Brief history ...

sometime from January 15 to 18, 1684. There was a later production at

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

without scenery or machines in 1685.Rosow 1992, pp. 103–104.

Performance history

''Amadis'' was the first ''tragédie en musique'' to be based on

chivalric Chivalry, or the chivalric code, is an informal and varying code of conduct developed in Europe between 1170 and 1220. It was associated with the medieval Christian institution of knighthood; knights' and gentlemen's behaviours were governed b ...

rather than

mythological Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...

themes; Lully's last three completed operas followed in this course.

Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Versa ...

chose the theme. In the dance troupe the principal male dancers were

Pierre Beauchamp Pierre Beauchamp or Beauchamps (; 30 October 1631 – February 1705) was a French choreographer, dancer and composer, and the probable inventor of Beauchamp–Feuillet notation. His grand-father was called Christophe (a musician) and his fa ...

, Louis-Guillaume Pécour and Lestang, and the principal female dancers were La Fontaine, Carré and Pesan. There were eight revivals of the opera in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

between 1687 and 1771. Between 1687 and 1729 it was produced in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Lunéville Lunéville ( ; German, obsolete: ''Lünstadt'' ) is a commune in the northeastern French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle. It is a subprefecture of the department and lies on the river Meurthe at its confluence with the Vezouze. History Lun ...

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, and

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

. Today the most famous aria from ''Amadis'' is Amadis' much anthologized monologue from act two
"Bois épais"
At the beginning of the same act Arcabonne sings "Amour, que veux-tu de moy?", as once did 'every cook in France', according to Le Cerf de la Viéville (Comparaison, 1704–6)

Later developments

The opera went by the title ''Amadis'' until 1699 when another opera, ''Amadis de Grèce'', by

André Cardinal Destouches André Cardinal Destouches (sometimes called des Touches) (baptised 6 April 1672 – 7 February 1749) was a French composer best known for the ''opéra-ballet'' ''Les élémens''. Biography Born in Paris, the son of Étienne Cardinal, a ...

appeared. After this, the Lully-Quinault work was billed as ''Amadis de Gaule''. This was also the title of an adaptation of the Quinault libretto with music by

Johann Christian Bach Johann Christian Bach (September 5, 1735 – January 1, 1782) was a German composer of the Classical period (music), Classical era, the eighteenth child of Johann Sebastian Bach, and the youngest of his eleven sons. After living in Italy for ...

, which premiered in Paris in 1779.Sérié, p.74

Roles

Synopsis

A complex story of love and chivalry depicting the faithful love of Amadis and Oriane, opposed by the sorcerer family of Arcabonne and Arcalaus, with another pair of lovers, Florestan and Corisande, as a subplot.

Recordings

''(key: conductor/arcabonne/corisande/oriane/urgande/amadis/arcalaüs/florestan)'' *Amaducci/Guiot/Eda-Pierre/Manchet/Pietti/Sénéchal/Bastin/Massard, with the Orchestre de Chambre de l’ORTF, live in Paris, Nov. 1974, ORT 3746 *Reyne/Ricci/Masset/Laurens/Poul/Geslot/Westphal/Chuberre, with

La Simphonie du Marais La Simphonie du Marais is a French music ensemble established in 1987 by recorder player Hugo Reyne. Today, it is located in the Logis de la Chabotterie of Saint-Sulpice-le-Verdon in Vendée. It performs exclusively vocal and instrumental Baroq ...

, live at Les Lucs-sur-Boulogne, July 2006, Accord, 3 CDs *Rousset/Perruche/Bennani/van Wanroij/Tauran/Auvity/Crossley-Mercer/Arnould, with

Les Talens Lyriques The French musical ensemble Les Talens Lyriques was created in 1991 in Paris, France, by the harpsichordist and orchestral conductor Christophe Rousset. This instrumental and vocal formation derives its name from the subtitle of '' Les fêtes d'H� ...

, live at Versailles, July 2013, Aparté AP 094, 3 CDs

References

Notes Sources * Holden, Amanda (2001). ''The New Penguin Opera Guide''. New York: Penguin Putnam. . * La Gorce, Jérôme de (2001). "Lully. (1) Jean-Baptiste Lully ulli, Giovanni Battista(i)" in Sadie 2001. * Rosow, Lois (1992). "''Amadis''" in Sadie 1992, vol. 1, pp. 103–104. *

Sadie, Stanley 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 ...

, editor (1992). ''

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 ...

'' (4 volumes). London: Macmillan. . * Sadie, Stanley, editor (2001). ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

'', 2nd edition. London: Macmillan. (hardcover), (eBook), and

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

. * Sawkins, Lionel. "''Amadis''" in Holden 2001, p. 515. * Sérié, Pierre (2012). "Plot and libretto", in the book accompanying Didier Talpain's recording of J.C. Bach's ''Amadis de Gaule'' (Ediciones Speciales)

External links

Plot summary
on University of North Texas * {{italic title Operas by Jean-Baptiste Lully Tragédies en musique French-language operas Operas 1684 operas Opera world premieres at the Paris Opera