''La Princesse d'Élide'' (''The Princess of Elis'') is a 1664 French comic play ("comédie galante") in 5 acts in verse and prose by
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...
, who based it on
Agustin Moreto y Cabaña's 1654 Spanish play ''El desdén con el desdén'' (''Scorn for Scorn'') but moved the location to
Elis
Elis also known as Ellis or Ilia (, ''Eleia'') is a historic region in the western part of the Peloponnese peninsula of Greece. It is administered as a regional unit of the modern region of Western Greece. Its capital is Pyrgos. Until 2011 it ...
in Greece.
[Lancaster 1936, pp. 617–620.][Garreau 1984, pp. 408, 417.] The play includes six ''
intermèdes'' with verses by Molière and music by
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Jean-Baptiste Lully ( – 22 March 1687) was a French composer, dancer and instrumentalist of Italian birth, who is considered a master of the French Baroque music style. Best known for his operas, he spent most of his life working in the court o ...
.
[Wine 2002.][Powell 2000, pp. 337, 339.]
It was first performed on 8 May 1664 as part of
Louis XIV
LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
's multi-day royal festival ''
Les Plaisirs de l'Isle enchantée'' at
Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...
and revived in July four times for the court at the
Palace of Fontainebleau
Palace of Fontainebleau ( , ; ), located southeast of the center of Paris, in the commune of Fontainebleau, is one of the largest French royal châteaux. It served as a hunting lodge and summer residence for many of the List of French monarchs ...
and on 9 November for public performances 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
O ...
in Paris, where it ran until 4 January 1665, its twenty-fifth representation and the last by the
troupe of Molière.
[Wine 2002.]
Notes
Bibliography
* Garreau, Joseph E. (1984). "Molière", vol. 3, pp. 397–418 in ''McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama'', Stanley Hochman, editor in chief. New York: McGraw-Hill. .
*
Lancaster, Henry Carrington (1936). ''A History of French Dramatic Literature in the Seventeenth Century. Part III: The Period of Molière 1652–1672''. New York: Gordian Press (1966 reprint). .
* Powell, John S. (2000). Chapter 15: "The Public Reception of a Court Success: ''La Princesse d'Élide''", pp. 337–353, in his ''Music and Theatre in France 1600–1680''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. .
* Wine, Kathleen (2002), "''Princesse d'Élide, La''", pp. 391–392, in ''The Molière Encyclopedia'', edited by James F. Gaines. Westport, Connecticut/London: Greenwood Press. .
External links
''Livret (1665)'' Gallica
{{DEFAULTSORT:Princesse d'Elide, La
1664 plays
Compositions by Jean-Baptiste Lully
Plays by Molière