| Jean-Baptiste Lully |
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Operas
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Amadis or Amadis de Gaule (Amadis of Gaul) is a tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully to a libretto by Philippe Quinault based on Nicolas Herberay des Essarts' adaptation of Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo's Amadis de Gaula. It was premiered at the Paris Opéra January 18, 1684. There was a later production at Versailles without machines in 1685.[1]
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Amadis was the first tragédie en musique to be based on chivalric rather than mythological themes; Lully's last three completed operas followed in this course. Louis XIV of France chose the theme. In the dance troupe the principal male dancers were Pierre Beauchamps, Louis Guillaume Pécour and Lestang, and the principal female dancers were La Fontaine, Carré and Pesan. There were eight revivals of the opera in Paris between 1687 and 1771. Between 1687 and 1729 it was produced in Amsterdam, The Hague, Marseilles, Rouen, Brussels, Lunéville, Lyon, and Dijon. Today the most famous aria from Amadis is Amadis' much anthologized monologue from act two, "Bois épais". At the beginning of the same act Arcabonne sings "Amour, que veux-tu de moy?", as once did ‘every cook in France’, according to Le Cerf de la Viéville (Comparaison, 1704–6)[1]
| Cast | Voice type | Premiere, January 18, 1684 (Conductor: - ) |
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| Alquif, sorcerer, husband of Urgande (prologue) | baritone | |
| Urgande, sorceress, wife of Alquif (prologue) | soprano | |
| Amadis, son of King Perion of Gaul | haute-contre | Louis Gaulard Dumesny |
| Oriane, daughter of King Lisuart of Britain | soprano | Fanchon Moreau |
| Florestan,illegitimate son of King Perion | baritone | Jean Dun |
| Corisande, Florestan's beloved, ruler of Gravesande | soprano | |
| Arcabonne, sorceress, sister of Arcalaus and Ardan Canile | soprano | Marie Le Rochois |
| Arcalaus, sorcerer knight and brother of Ardan Canile and Arcabonne | baritone | |
| Ghost of Ardan Canile | baritone | |
| Followers, knights, soldiers, demons, nymphs, shepherds and shepherdesses, captives and gaolers, enchanted heroes and heroines etc. | ||
A complex story of love and chivalry depicting the faithful love of Amadis and Oriane, opposed by the sorcerer family of Arcabonne and Arcalaus, with another pair of lovers, Florestan and Corisande, as a subplot.