This is the story of Pha�ton, valiant driver of the Sun's chariot, led here by Vincent Dumestre and Benjamin Lazar, armed with a rich partnership of two decades of Lullyist cooperation. Just like at the time, they will make the Versailles Opera resonate with this production of this flamboyant trag�die lyrique which was first presented in Perm in Russia in 2018. Pha�ton is a trag�die en musique in a prologue and five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully. Philippe Quinault wrote the French libretto after a story from Ovid's Metamorphoses. It can be read as an allegorical depiction of the punishment awaiting those mortals who dare to raise themselves as high as the "sun" (i.e. The Sun King). Pha�ton was the first lyric tragedy of Lully and Quinault to receive it's world premiere at the Palace of Versailles, where it was given without stage machinery on or about 6 January 1683. The Paris Opera also performed it at the Th��tre du Palais-Royal (beginning on 27 April), where it was very successful with the general public.

Nearly a century after its composition, Lully’s Persée was recreated in 1770 to mark an exceptional event: the inauguration of the Royal Opera House at Versailles Palace, built to celebrate the wedding of the Dauphin (the future Louis XVI) and Marie Antoinette. For this unique occasion, three composers (Antoine Dauvergne, François Rebel and Bernard de Bury) were commissioned to revise Lully’s work and adapt it to the new circumstances and the new venue, which was regarded as absolutely extraordinary in its time.

Lovers of Lully’s opera will therefore meet their mythological hero again, now with a richer orchestration and more for the chorus and the ballet dancers to do. There were only two performances in 1770, but they were absolutely sumptuous: 95 choristers, 15 soloists, 80 dancers, 100 extras, 80 instrumentalists, five sets and 530 costumes.

You can now relive that historic event thanks to a recording conducted by the leading specialist in this repertory, Hervé Niquet, and a CD-book richly illustrated with engravings of the period and photos of the Opéra Royal and of manuscripts of the score.

Recorded at Versailles Palace in 2016, in collaboration with the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles.

Although Lully never held any post in the Chapelle du Roi, his influence on the development of the grand motet, so emblematic of the Grand Si�cle, was of decisive importance. He wrote imposing motets celebrating the glory of God and the King for the great ceremonies at court. Of the many royal funerals, that of Queen Marie-Th�r�se in 1683 was among the most grandiose. Lully's Dies ir� and de profundis were sung there. But his most celebrated motet was undoubtedly his Te Deum, which rang out for the first time in 1677 and became the king's favorite. In 1687 Lully directed it once again, but struck his foot violently with the heavy walking stick he used to beat time. The wound became infected and the gangrene gradually spread, causing the surintendant's death on 22 March. Such was the tragic destiny of the man who was capable of conveying the most brilliant glory but also all the anguish of death in the same vein of grandeur. That theatrical grandeur is the characteristic of this version recorded in the Chapelle Royale of the Ch�teau de Versailles. Lully is in the limelight again in 2019, on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the Acad�mie Royale de Musique (Paris Op�ra), of which he was director from 1672 until his death.

Elena Sartori’s aim with this new recording is to reinterpret a pair of Jean-Baptiste Lully’s grand motets through the prism of his Italian heritage. As Sartori notes in her booklet essay, the magnificent Te Deum shares little of musical style or text-setting in common with Lully’s operas. The ornamentation and stylised, asymmetric rhythms that are woven through the texture of his dramatic works and those of his successors such as Rameau are notable by their absence; she finds, instead, ‘a deep-rooted, maternal sense of melody, and an enduring, even unwitting memory of Latinate language that leads the work away from factional claims (of national style).’ Anyone who follows Lully’s music and the French Baroque will want to investigate this new recording, which was made in the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna: a Byzantineera building with its own complex history which lends an imposing sense of space to the interpretations.

Composed in 1680, Proserpine marks the reunion of Lully and Quinault after the scandal surrounding Isis (1677). Set in the splendour of Saint-Germain, the work offers a mythological mirror to the Dauphin's wedding. In it, Lully revolutionises his art: the orchestra becomes the driving force of the drama while the voices gain in expressive intensity. Under the baton of Christophe Rousset, Les Talens Lyriques revive this gem in which the fate of a captive queen and the splendour of restored peace unite in immortal harmony.

Armide, premiered in 1686, was the last joint work of Lully and the poet Philippe Quinault. It immediately became a pillar of the Opéra’s repertory, which it finally left only in 1766, when it was removed to make room for a new wave of composers, Philidor, Grétry, Gossec and soon Gluck. A few attempts to restore former tastes still allowed audiences to hear such works as Persée, revived in 1770 (and recorded in that version by Hervé Niquet, ALPHA967). But these operas were profoundly modified in order to increase the role of the orchestra and tailor the vocal numbers to the singers of the day. This was the context for the fascinating and unpublished version of Armide that has lain dormant in the Bibliothèque Nationale for more than two centuries. The revisions to the original are by Louis-Joseph Francœur, nephew of the celebrated François Francœur, one of Louis XV’s court musicians. This recording of the 1778 version of Armide, made at the Opéra Royal du Château de Versailles in collaboration with the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, is not merely the first modern performance but the work’s world premiere, since none of its music was ever actually played at the time. It enables us to grasp the evolution of the ideas and practices of French music over a whole century.

This Blu-ray Disc is only playable on Blu-ray Disc players and not compatible with standard DVD players.

Also available on standard DVD

Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Atys, a tragédie en musique, became known as the ‘king’s opera’ due to Louis XIV’s fondness for it. The work stands as a testament to the Sun King’s courtly refinement, as well as his moves to make France the center of European artistic culture. The opera’s themes of romantic dilemmas and ultimate tragedy, set amidst the poetic atmosphere of Ovid’s classical mythology, create the perfect vehicle for a narrative filled with dramatic intensity combined with a myriad of moving and expressive arias and duets. William Christie conducts this acclaimed production – hailed by The New York Times as being ‘as satisfying it is bold’.

REVIEW:

The role of Atys is physically as well as vocally taxing, but is here superbly realised by the German tenor, Bernard Richter, while the French soprano, Emmanuelle De Negri, is an excellent Sangaride, with the creamy voice of the mezzo, Stephanie D’Oustrac, as Cybele completing the love triangle. The cast list is large, and with the Compagnie Fetes Galantes providing the dancers, the stage is at times totally filled. The reviews at the time of filimg (2011) were suitably euphoric regarding the casting, and equally of the presence of the period instrument orchestra, Les Arts Florrissants, with the idiomatic conducting of William Christie. The filming itself is immaculate in its ideal mix of full stage and close-up images, while the sound quality is gorgeous.

– David's Review Corner (David Denton)

The Grands Motets on this disc (Exaudiat, Notus in Judaea Deus and Benedictus) are scored for five soloists, five-part choir and orchestra. Although averaging only a quarter of an hour in length, they are nevertheless broad in conception. Le Concert Spirituel certainly does not tiptoe around these works but rather throw themselves into their performances with élan.

The three Grands Motets are interspersed with Lully's settings of O dulcissime Domine and Laudate pueri Dominum. The two women's voices in O dulcissime Domine interweave magically over a continuo accompaniment. The highlight, however, is the first motet, Exaudiat te Dominus. The opening is lively and joyous, contrasting with the sad, heart-felt setting of Domine salvum fac. Le Concert Spirituel bring out the contrasts in the Dormierunt section of Notus in Judaea Deus well, and respond to the grandiose passages in the Benedictus. It is only in this latter piece that the generally crisp and rhythmic articulation flags.

The curious should not hesitate. The recording is in general good, although the harpsichord sounds dull. Full texts and translations are included.

-- Colin Clarke, MusicWeb International

This recording is the third of Lully's Armide; the other two, from 1983 (Erato) and 1992 (Harmonia Mundi), were led by Philippe Herreweghe. The first, which I've not heard, eliminated the opera's fourth act, in which minor characters are tempted by Armide and the plot is otherwise not advanced. The second recording, starring Guillaumette Laurens and Howard Crook as Armide and Renaud, is complete and is an elegant reading, with some fire from Laurens.

The Washington, DC-based Opera Lafayette's recording under consideration here is trimmed. Gone is the Prologue, which is the usual love poem to Louis XIV that these operas called for, this one with the allegorical figures of Wisdom and Glory praising him to the skies. It contains some lovely music, but is superfluous to the plot; it was cut as early as 1761 (probably a political rather than musical decision; in any event Louis never saw the work). Conductor Ryan Brown also chops a few repeats in the dances, one of the Shepherd's arias, and a few minutes of the fourth act. I didn't miss any of it, dramatically, but it's nice to know it can be heard on Herreweghe's second recording. Brown gives us two hours of cohesive music-drama.

The plot is well-known, and in fact the same libretto (by Phillippe Quinault) was set by Gluck in 1776 (the Lully dates from 1686). Opera lovers also will be familiar with the Rossini and Handel operas that treat the story of the sorceress Armida's infatuation with the knight, Rinaldo; there are variations, but the outlines are the same.

Lully's opera, his last, was a great and lasting success, what with demons destroying enchanted palaces and all, and with music that never ceases to please. Both leads are well drawn, with Armide's wickedness on a grand scale (her love for Renaud almost enough for us to feel for her) and Renaud's valor and sweetness displayed in equal proportion. The dance intervals are colorfully scored and utterly delightful.

The stars of this set, the mezzo Stephanie Houtzeel and tenor Robert Getchell, are excellent. She has plenty of character to her tone, sings with nice ferocity in her second-act "Enfin il est en ma puissance", charm in the fifth-act love duet, and both resignation and fury in her final number. The voice is substantial, and while she never resorts to chest voice, a good snarl occasionally slips out. Laurens has only a slight edge over Houtzeel; the former is more comfortable with ornamentation and dramatic stresses.

No apologies need be made for Robert Getchell, a "French" tenor of the best kind, heroically "bright" enough and gently loving enough, singing with fine French diction. And his tone is beautiful. (A note: He studied with Howard Crook.) The cast's other standout, tenor Tony Boutté, sings a Danish Knight (some of his music is omitted in Act 4) and a Lucky Lover and I'm sure he will soon be graduating to the role of Renaud. His voice sits high and is clear enough for Gluck's Orphée as well.

William Sharp uses his not-very-weighty baritone voice to enliven La Haine, and he means every word. As Armide's confidantes, Ann Monoyios and Miram Dubrow are effective, though the latter strays from pitch early on as Sidonie. François Loup, doing double duty as Hidraot, Armide's wicked uncle, and Ubalde, Renaud's good friend, oversings as the former to compensate for a tone not quite large enough. The others are all excellent.

I wish that Ryan Brown's orchestra were bigger; there are some moments in this work that require more sheer noise than 27 players can make (and they don't always play at once). Herreweghe gets it just right and the drama seems properly dark despite the inherent frills. To sum up, not only is this set the only one currently available, it's a bargain and very good all around. You'll miss about 30 minutes of music, but the two hours you do get are splendid.

--Robert Levine, ClassicsToday.com

It was on July 18, 1668 that Moliere successfully performed George Dandin ou le mari confundu, a play mixed with a sung pastoral, for “Le Grand Divertissement Royal de Versailles” offered by Louis XIV to his Court, as a celebration of the Peace of Aachen. This amusing story of a rich peasant who purchases a young noble girl includes interludes set to the splendid music of Lully. The same year sees the promising meeting between Lully and Quinault: together they write for King La Grotte de Versailles, in which Louis is glorified, and dances in person the role of a nymph. These two works, symbolic of the creative vigor of the early days of Versailles, and of the artistic appetite of a thirty-year-old Sovereign, are brought back to life thanks to Gaetan Jarry and Marguerite Louise, with incomparable taste: tambourines, flutes and musettes are part of the festivities and the trumpets proclaim the glory of Louis. Here we have a scintillating echo of the sumptuous festivities given at Versailles by Louis XIV!

An ancient hero, a dragon, a young goddess: love and glory are at the heart of Lully's first opera, first performed in front of Louis XIV. As in his previous works - divertissements, ballets de cour and comédies- ballets - Lully makes the voices and the orchestra sparkle, multiplying the pieces which stand out and that were appealing to the court. But with the help of the librettist Philippe Quinault, he introduced the dramatic force of French classical tragédie in an exclusively musical work: and here the audience was bewitched by the mythical love stories so sumptuously portrayed. The first tragic heroes, the first great love duets, the first tears from the audience: the tragédie-lyrique, this opera in the French manner, was born, and thanks to it, until his death in 1687, Lully would never cease to delight. Vincent Dumestre brilliantly resuscitates this seminal work, thus celebrating with dignity the three hundred and fifty years of the Académie royale de musique!

Classical Music

R E V I E W S:

Volume 1
The court of Louis XIV was a lively and musically thriving place, and Jean-Baptiste Lully, who actually was Italian (Giovanni Battista Lulli) but became a naturalized French citizen, was right in the middle of it. As director of one of the king's orchestras and as Superintendent of the King's Music, Composer of the King's Chamber, and Master of Music of the Royal Family, Lully's job included providing music for various entertainments, mostly ballets and other orchestral and stage works. Sacred choral music came later in Lully's career, and this recording offers three of his most important masterpieces in this genre. The artful use of homophonic and polyphonic sections, double chorus, soloists, and orchestral color combine to give each of these substantial works the dramatic charge and forward-moving energy of a theatrical piece. Le Concert Spirituel, named and fashioned after an 18th-century concert organization that specialized in performance of French "Grands Motets", is an outstanding modern advocate for Lully's music, with fine soloists, an excellent chorus that knows the true meaning of "ensemble", and instrumentalists (and conductor) who understand the importance of rhythm in realizing this music's full effect. I look forward to Volume 2. [11/25/1999]

--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

Volume 3
The Grands Motets on this disc (Exaudiat, Notus in Judaea Deus and Benedictus) are scored for five soloists, five-part choir and orchestra. Although averaging only a quarter of an hour in length, they are nevertheless broad in conception. Le Concert Spirituel certainly does not tiptoe around these works but rather throw themselves into their performances with élan.

The three Grands Motets are interspersed with Lully's settings of O dulcissime Domine and Laudate pueri Dominum. The two women's voices in O dulcissime Domine interweave magically over a continuo accompaniment. The highlight, however, is the first motet, Exaudiat te Dominus. The opening is lively and joyous, contrasting with the sad, heart-felt setting of Domine salvum fac. Le Concert Spirituel bring out the contrasts in the Dormierunt section of Notus in Judaea Deus well, and respond to the grandiose passages in the Benedictus. It is only in this latter piece that the generally crisp and rhythmic articulation flags.

The curious should not hesitate. The recording is in general good, although the harpsichord sounds dull. Full texts and translations are included.

-- Colin Clarke, MusicWeb International

A musician of genius, Jean-Baptiste Lully put all his musical science at the service of intense oratorical emotion in the Grands Motets. These vast religious compositions, with their powerful dramatic character, were representative of the splendor deployed at the court of Louis XIV. The Dies Irae and the De Profundis, imbued with great solemnity, were both given at the royal funeral of Louis XIV's wife, Queen Maria Theresa of Austria, in 1683 in the Basilica of Saint-Denis. This extraordinary Funerial ostentation was magnified by Lully's works, making Madame de Sevigne remark that at their performance that "all eyes were welled up with tears". Stephane Fuget and Les epopees - a veritable army of generals - deliver a grandiose, shimmering, theatrical and oratorical version of this music, draping it in an abundance of brilliant glittering ornaments, like the sun invigorating the stained-glass windows, mirrors and gilding of Versailles, to the point of eternity.

Also available on Blu-ray

Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Atys, a tragédie en musique, became known as the ‘king’s opera’ due to Louis XIV’s fondness for it. The work stands as a testament to the Sun King’s courtly refinement, as well as his moves to make France the center of European artistic culture. The opera’s themes of romantic dilemmas and ultimate tragedy, set amidst the poetic atmosphere of Ovid’s classical mythology, create the perfect vehicle for a narrative filled with dramatic intensity combined with a myriad of moving and expressive arias and duets. William Christie conducts this acclaimed production – hailed by The New York Times as being ‘as satisfying as it is bold’.

REVIEW:

The role of Atys is physically as well as vocally taxing, but is here superbly realised by the German tenor, Bernard Richter, while the French soprano, Emmanuelle De Negri, is an excellent Sangaride, with the creamy voice of the mezzo, Stephanie D’Oustrac, as Cybele completing the love triangle. The cast list is large, and with the Compagnie Fetes Galantes providing the dancers, the stage is at times totally filled. The reviews at the time of filimg (2011) were suitably euphoric regarding the casting, and equally of the presence of the period instrument orchestra, Les Arts Florrissants, with the idiomatic conducting of William Christie. The filming itself is immaculate in its ideal mix of full stage and close-up images, while the sound quality is gorgeous.

– David's Review Corner (David Denton)

In 1674, Lully and Quinault unveiled a new collaboration: Alceste, a tragedie en musique combining the dramatic power of the Greek myth from which it was inspired with the musical richness of the French Baroque. Despite criticism from the rivals of Lully and Quinault, this opera seduced the court of Louis XIV, reinforcing the new genre of the tragedie en musique. Stephane Fuget explores a world where love, sacrifice and duty intertwine, supported by sumptuous arias and choruses of unprecedented expressivity, sublimely performed by Les Epopees and the Ch�ur de l'Opera Royal.

Armide was Lully and Quinault's last tragedie lyrique: undoubtedly Quinault's finest dramatic achievement, and the culmination of the tragedie en musique conceived by Lully, who died the year after it's creation. Never has language appeared so beautiful and tragic in Lully's music, and the drama of this Christian knight falling in love with the sorceress who refuses to kill him was so deeply felt that it remained on stage for a century! Here, Vincent Dumestre passionately conducts Lully's last masterpiece, whose eponymous character, played by the immense Stephanie D'Oustrac, never ceases to bewitch us.

Of all the performances of the Te Deum conducted during Lully's lifetime, history retains only the last, which sealed the composer's death in 1686: it was while beating time that, carried away by his zeal, he pierced his foot with the end of his cane... Ten years earlier, Lully composed this considerable score, for the christening of his own son, thus establishing an "official" genre for a century. Also intended to celebrate the great events of the reign, the grand motet Exaudiat Te Dominus is a dazzling glorification of the King, whose arms God has come to bear. Stephane Fuget, with his ensemble Les epopees, brings to a close this collection devoted to Lully's sumptuous Grands Motets, accompanied by the Pages et Chantres of the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles: To the Glory of God and the King!

When Atys was first performed before the court in 1676, Lully was at the peak of his triumph: his tragedie lyrique became "the King's opera," so highly did the monarch esteem it's quality. The chords unfold to embody human passions and divine wills, guiding the young Atys's romantic impulses and the wounded fury of the goddess Cybele. With Atys, Lully establishes love as the central thread of the drama, weaving around this sovereign passion a tale where the impulses of the heart, celestial jealousies, and human flaws intertwine to seal the fate of the heroes. Leonardo Garcia-Alarcon conducts this new version with exquisite finesse, elevating Lully's music to carry souls into an enchanting dream.

This is Atys, the King's Opera, Lully’s masterpiece, premièred in 1676 before the court. A legendary work in the rediscovery of Grand-Siècle operas, Atys is a paragon of emerging lyric art: it places love at the centre of the plot, and its hero – for the first time in Lully's work – dies on stage, provoking a sumptuous lamentation that could wring tears from the most hardened heart. Lully’s incredible music magnifies Philippe Quinault’s splendid tragic text, creating their first joint masterpiece, an Atys adored by the Sun King. Christophe Rousset offers his vision of a piece that has fascinated him for the past three decades, lending it the sensual colour imbued by the Reinoud Van Mechelen's performance, a miraculous Atys…

Here; four exceptional Grands Motets composed by Lully to the greatest glory of Louis XIV have been brought together: Plaude Laetare Gallia was performed in 1668 as a jubilant celebration of the birth of his first son; the Grand Dauphin; Benedictus is a piece of extraordinary architecture that transcends the sacred drama; Notus in Judea Deus; composed in 1685 shortly before Lully’s death; is a true victory song celebrating the glory of God; finally; Domine Salvum fac Regem; an energetic “God save the King”; was systematically sung in honour of the sovereign. The sublime Magnificat by Henry Du Mont; who was in charge of the Music of the King's Chapel until 1683; adds yet more splendour. Stéphane Fuget has brought together the best performers; a veritable “army of generals” with a vast choir composed of exceptional singers; to bring these legendary pieces back to life amid the magnificence of Versailles.

Having been granted unprecedented authority by Louis XIV, the Sun King, no one could stage operas in France without Jean-Baptiste Lully’s permission. By 1686, however, Lully’s authority was waning and his long-standing librettist deserted him to write sacred works. Despite these setbacks, Lully wrote Acis et Galatée, a pastorale héroïque, and one of his final masterpieces. (Dynamic)

Acis et Galatée is acknowledged as one of Lully’s finest masterpieces. This recording from the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino is conducted by the early music specialist Federico Maria Sardelli, and features tenor Jean-François Lombard and soprano Elena Harsányi in the principal roles. Also available on Dynamic Blu-ray (57971) and DVD (37971).

Having been granted unprecedented authority by Louis XIV, the Sun King, no one could stage operas in France without Jean-Baptiste Lully's permission. By 1686, however, Lully's authority was waning and his long-standing librettist deserted him to write sacred works. Despite these setbacks, Lully wrote Acis et Galat�e, a pastorale h�ro�que, and one of his final masterpieces. It's plot - the cyclops Poliph�me's love for the nymph Galat�e - drew from Lully an astonishing alternation of effects, a profound monologue for the nymph in Act III and a magnificent concluding Passacaille, all framed by a succession of dances and vividly conceived choruses.

Venus, irritated by the young mortal Psyché whose beauty radiates all across the world, dispatches Cupid to impose a thousand trials upon her, which the young victim triumphs over to the point of becoming immortal. In this mythological fable, which is his sixth tragédie lyrique (1678), Lully shows off his immense talent and takes revenge on Molière, for whom he had written the music of a monumental Psyché in 1671, and which had been the cause of their falling out. A connoisseur of Lully, Christophe Rousset conducts a sumptuous cast that gives his Psyché all the luster of the great French operas!