''Les fêtes de Paphos'' (''The Festivals of Paphos'') 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 seventeen ...

'' in three acts (or ''entrées'') by the French composer

Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville Jean-Joseph de Mondonville (, 25 December 1711 (baptised) – 8 October 1772), also known as Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville, was a French people, French violinist and composer. He was a younger contemporary of Jean-Philippe Rameau and enjoy ...

. The work was described as a ''ballet héroïque'' on the title page of the printed score. Each act had a different

librettist A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major ...

. ''Les fêtes de Paphos'' was first performed at the

Académie royale de musique 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 kn ...

in Paris on 9 May 1758 and was a popular success. Mondonville recycled material from two of his previous operas for the first two acts, namely ''Erigone'' (1747) and ''Vénus et Adonis'' (1752), both originally composed for

Madame de Pompadour Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (, ; 29 December 1721 – 15 April 1764), commonly known as Madame de Pompadour, was a member of the French court. She was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and rema ...

's Théâtre des Petits Cabinets. The title of the work is explained in the preface to the printed score.

Paphos Paphos, also spelled as Pafos, is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: #Old Paphos, Old Paphos, today known as Kouklia, and #New Paphos, New Paphos. It i ...

was a city in

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

sacred to

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

, the goddess of love. "Reunited on the island of Paphos, Venus, Bacchus and Cupid decide to enliven their leisure in such a pleasant location by celebrating their first loves, and this gives rise to the following three acts and the title ''Les fêtes de Paphos''."

Roles

Synopsis

Act One: ''Vénus et Adonis''

: Librettist: Jean-Baptiste Collet de Messine : Source: the myth of

and

Adonis In Greek mythology, Adonis (; ) was the mortal lover of the goddesses Aphrodite and Persephone. He was considered to be the ideal of male beauty in classical antiquity. The myth goes that Adonis was gored by a wild boar during a hunting trip ...

The jealous god

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

plots against

, his rival for the love of

. In spite of Venus's entreaties, Adonis sets off for a hunt where he is killed. Venus turns him into an

anemone ''Anemone'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. Plants of the genus are commonly called windflowers. They are native to the temperate and subtropical regions of all regions except Australia, New Zealand, and ...

. Mars wants to destroy the flower but

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

resurrects Adonis. Adonis is happily reunited with Venus.

Act Two: ''Bacchus et Érigone''

: Librettist: Charles-Antoine le Clerc de la Bruère : Source: the myth of

Bacchus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ) by the Gre ...

and Erigone The

nymph A nymph (; ; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, land ...

Erigone is in love with Bacchus but he thinks only of his own glory. Jupiter encourages their love by holding a celebration in the course of which Bacchus succumbs to Erigone's charms.

Act Three: ''L'Amour et Psyché''

: Librettist: Claude-Henri de Fusée de Voisenon : Source: the myth of

Cupid and Psyche Cupid and Psyche is a story originally from ''Metamorphoses'' (also called ''The Golden Ass''), written in the 2nd century AD by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (or Platonicus). The tale concerns the overcoming of obstacles to the love between Psy ...

Psyche is in love with Cupid (L'Amour) but is punished by the jealous Venus. Cupid and Psyche are shipwrecked in a storm conjured up by the Fury

Tisiphone Tisiphone (, "Avenger of murder"),Tisiphone
Encyclopedia Britannica, Retrieved 4 February 2025; from '' ...

and Psyche drowns. Cupid journeys to the underworld and rescues Psyche but daylight reveals that her beauty has been destroyed by Tisiphone. Nevertheless, Cupid declares he is still in love with her. Venus is so touched by this declaration of faithfulness that she restores Psyche's beauty and blesses the couple's love.

Recordings

* ''Les fêtes de Paphos''

Jean-Paul Fouchécourt 2015 Jean-Paul Fouchécourt is a French tenor, mostly as an opera singer. He was born on 30 August 1958 at Blanzy in the Burgundy region. He is best known for singing French Baroque music, especially the parts called in French ''haute-contre'', ...

Véronique Gens Véronique Gens (born 19 April 1966) is a French operatic soprano. She has spent much of her career recording and performing Baroque music, Baroque music. Gens was born in Orléans, France, and studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, winning fir ...

Sandrine Piau Sandrine Piau (born 5 June 1965) is a French soprano. She is particularly renowned in Baroque music although also excels in Romantic and modernist art songs. She has the versatility to perform works from Vivaldi, Handel, Mozart to Schumann, Deb ...

, Agnès Mellon, Les Talens Lyriques, conducted by

Christophe Rousset Christophe Rousset (; born 12 April 1961) is a French harpsichordist and conducting, conductor, who specializes in the performance of Baroque music on Authentic performance, period instruments. He is also a musicologist, particularly of opera and ...

(Decca, L'Oiseau Lyre, 1997)

Sources

Le magazine de l'opéra baroque by Jean-Claude Brenac
* * Booklet notes to the above recording. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fetes de Paphos, Les French-language operas Opéras-ballets 1758 operas Operas by Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville Operas Operas based on classical mythology Operas set in Cyprus Greek and Roman deities in fiction Adonis Venus (mythology) Mars (mythology) Fiction about resurrection Jupiter (god)