Issé is a operatic pastorale héroïque by the French composer André Cardinal Destouches. It has a prologue and three acts. The libretto was by Antoine Houdar de la Motte.
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The opera was first performed in a concert version at Fontainebleau on 7 October 1697, and at the Trianon, Versailles on 17 December of the same year. The first full staging was at the Paris Opéra on 30 December 1697. In 1708 Destouches revised the work in a grander five-act form. The work was successful and was given again a number of times at the court. Madame de Pompadour sang the title role for a production in 1749.
Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 7 October 1697 (conductor: Antoine Grimaldi) |
---|---|---|
Issé | soprano | Marthe Le Rochois |
Doris | soprano | Fanchon Moreau |
Philémon (Apollon) | haute-contre | Louis Gaulard Dumesny |
Grand priest | baritone | Charles Hardouin |
Hylas | baritone | Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard |
Pan | bass | Jean Dun, 'père' |
Sleep, shepherd, oracle | haute-contre | Antoine Boutelou |
Apollon (Apollo), disguised as a shepherd called Philémon, pursues the nymph Issé, while Pan takes an interest in Doris.