Organization

Singer

Soprano

Eugénie Lefebvre

Cydippe

Conductor

Christophe Rousset

Deborah Cachet

Aglaure

Ambroisine Bré

Psyché

Bénédicte Tauran

Venus

Flora

Silent

Cyril Auvity

Amour

Robert Getchell

Mercury, Vertumnus, Vulcan

Nicholas Scott

Apollon

Fabien Hyon

Palaemon, Silenus, Bacchus

Bass

Philippe Estèphe

Jupiter

Anas Séguin

Licas

Matthieu Heim

Mars

Opéra Royal de Versailles

Les Talens Lyriques

Tenor

Zéphyr

Mercure

le Fleuve

Palémon

French

Psyché -  (Psyche)

Versailles

France

Opéra Royal

Appartements du Roi

Psyché Lully

Public

Psyche

English

Approved

Lyrical tragedy in five acts with prologue on a libretto by Thomas Corneille and Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle premiered at the Royal Academy of Music in Paris in 1678.

In 1671, Molière tackled Louis XIV's most sumptuous commission: the tragedy-ballet Psyché , choreography by Beauchamp and machine sets by Vigarani. He established the plan but, taken by the time, he wrote only the first act, leaving to Pierre Corneille the writing of the following ones, and to Quinault that of the interludes set to music by Lully. The 340 performers of the triumphal creation remain legendary, like the 700 drums and 80 cannons brought together by Louis XIV to interpret the Prologue and the last interlude in the Royal Bastion of the fortifications of Dunkirk, barely completed by Vauban!

Molière returned the room to the Royal Palace without Lully's agreement, causing their final rupture. In 1678, it was Lully who resumed his interludes, and had Thomas Corneille compose the links necessary to turn it into a lyrical tragedy, without using Molière's text. In the end, Lully's work gives the most vibrant reflection of the ultimate joint creation of the Baptist duo… but without a word from Molière!

A fine connoisseur of Lully's operas, which he has almost all recorded, Christophe Rousset gives to this Psyche - destined for splendor and twists and turns - all the luster of the great works of the inventor of French opera.

Psyche by Lully, From (2022/2022), Conductor Christophe Rousset, Opéra Royal, Versailles, France

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Co-Producer

Program, About & Synopsis

Reviews

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Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues