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| Jean-Baptiste Lully has long been known as the father of French opera; this 1987 recording was the first to suggest his works are fit for something more than the library shelf. Though the 1676 Atys lacks the depth of texture and characterization (as well as the sheer weirdness) found in Rameau, the opera is like a catalog of French Baroque recitative and aria techniques in this Dangerous Liaisons-style story of love and jealousy amid royals and gods. Ironically, when |
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| Jean-Baptiste Lully (né Giovanni Baptista,1632-1687) has the honor of belonging to the vast group of non-French who, for their time, set the very idiom of "French" music (Eric Satie is a more current example). Lully, and his party of "Lullistes," advocated a priority of text over music, or let us say rather than the one was not permitted to obfuscate the other. Minkowski's recording -himself no slouch as a conductor of music of sumptuous vocality -has put together an expert cast that |
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| 2006 Best French Baroque Opera CD, NewOlde.com Early Music CD Awards 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 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.--Wikipedia |
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| Lully's Armide is considered the highpoint of his collaboration with the librettist Quinault, and indeed all of France's Tragedie Lyrique. This recording really brings out Lully's genius. The structure is much different from Italian opera seria, for those of you who have gotten used to the endless alternation of recititative and aria--much more focus is put on the recitative aspect. When the arias do come, however, they pack an incredible dramatic wallop, beautifully illustrated in the end of act II with Armide's aria "Venez secondez me desires" subsequent to her famous monologue "Enfin, il ist en ma puissance." Herreweghe leads his |
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allows this slightly frothy pastoral romp a dignity and pathos less apparent in Handel's version of this story. Jean-Paul Fouchécourt, who along with Veronique Gens incarnated the titular heroes of the "anti-Lully" Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie (also under Minkowski's baton), are the tragic lovers whose distinctly French articulations of the drama are sure bets. I welcome the long-awaited return of Howard Crook (Apollo), as the well as the participation of the déliceuse Mireille Delunsch (Vénus) with equal joy. With period instruments, masterfully played by Les Musiciens du Louvre. 
Montalvo's Amadis de Gaula. It was premiered at the Paris Opéra January 18, 1684. 
ensemble in a virtually flawless and scintilating performance. The grand passacaile in act V is simply breathtaking. Guillame Laurens is incredibly powerful as the title role. This is a fascinating recording of Lully's masterpiece and nobody interested in French baroque should be without it. However, if you want to explore the Armida legend in various musical settings, listening to this set together with Gluck's opera of the same name may be particularly interesting. There are of course numerous musical "Armidas", but these two - by Lully and Gluck - share the same libretto by Philippe Quinault. Here we have a rare occasion to hear the same text put to music by the composers representing two different operatic styles. Comparing these two works may be particularly fascinating for those who try to understand Gluck's 'reforms'. "Armida" is one of the reform operas and juxtaposing it with the 90 years older, 'traditional' setting by Lully is really illuminating.