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Phaëton (LWV 61) is a tragédie 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 was premiered at Versailles on January 6, 1683, and 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).
| Prologue |
| Character |
Description |
Voice part |
Original cast |
| Astrée |
Astraea, a goddess. |
soprano |
Fanchon Moreau? |
| Saturne |
Saturn, a god from a former age. |
bass |
? |
| Companions of Astraea; Followers of Saturn and Astraea |
N/A |
? |
| Tragedy |
| Character |
Description |
Voice part |
Original cast |
| Libie |
Libya, daughter of Merops by his first wife |
soprano |
? |
| Théone |
Theona, daughter of Proteus, Phaëton's lover. |
soprano |
? |
| Phaëton |
the son of Clymene and the Sun. |
haute-contre or high tenor |
? |
| Climène |
Clymene, daughter of Oceanus, second wife of Merops. |
soprano |
? |
| Protée |
Proteus, a sea god, Triton's herdsman. |
baritone |
? |
| Triton |
a sea god, brother of Clymene. |
haute-contre |
? |
| Epaphus |
a son of Jupiter, Libya's lover. |
baritone |
? |
| Merops |
king of Egypt |
bass |
? |
| Le Soleil |
the Sun, a god |
haute-contre |
? |
| Une Bergère égyptienne |
An Egyptian shepherdess |
? |
? |
| La Terre |
the Earth, a goddess |
tenor |
? |
| Jupiter |
king of the gods |
bass |
? |
| Followers of Triton; Kings and Tributaries of Merops; Egyptians, Ethiopians, Indians; followers of Phaëton; Priestesses; Worshippers of Isis; Furies; Hours of the Day; Four Seasons. |
N/A |
? |
[edit] Synopsis
Phaëton, the prideful and reckless son of the Sun and the ocean nymph Clymene, is driven to abandon his lover Theona by his ambition for the hand of Libya, daughter of the king of Egypt. On the day of the wedding, Libya's enraged lover Epaphus, himself the son of Jupiter, disputes Phaëton's claim to divine lineage. Desiring to prove himself, Phaëton convinces his father to allow him to drive the sun-chariot for one day. In the course of his flight he loses control of the horses, threatening the earth beneath with fiery destruction; Epaphus entreats his father to put an end to the danger, and Jupiter strikes the chariot down with a thunderbolt. Phaëton falls to his death.
[edit] References
[edit] Recording
[edit] External links
