Alceste, ou Le triomphe d’Alcide is a tragédie en musique

French lyric tragedy

Tragédie en musique , also known as tragédie lyrique, is a genre of French opera introduced by Jean-Baptiste Lully and used by his followers until the second half of the eighteenth century. Operas in this genre are usually based on stories from Classical mythology or the Italian romantic epics of...

in a prologue and five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully

Jean-Baptiste Lully

Jean-Baptiste de Lully was an Italian-born French composer who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He is considered the chief master of the French Baroque style. Lully disavowed any Italian influence in French music of the period. He became a French subject in...

. The French-language libretto is by Philippe Quinault

Philippe Quinault

Philippe Quinault , French dramatist and librettist, was born in Paris.- Biography :Quinault was educated by the liberality of François Tristan l'Hermite, the author of Marianne. Quinault's first play was produced at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in 1653, when he was only eighteen...

, after Euripides

Euripides

Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...

’ Alcestis

Alcestis (play)

Alcestis is an Athenian tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides. It was first produced at the City Dionysia festival in 438 BCE. Euripides presented it as the final part of a tetralogy of unconnected plays in the competition of tragedies, for which he won second prize; this arrangement...

. It was first performed at the Paris Opéra

Académie Royale de Musique

The Salle Le Peletier was the home of the Paris Opera from 1821 until the building was destroyed by fire in 1873. The theatre was designed and constructed by the architect François Debret on the site of the former Hôtel de Choiseul...

 on January 19, 1674.

The opera was presented in celebration of King Louis XIV’s victory against Franche-Comté

Franche-Comté

Franche-Comté the former "Free County" of Burgundy, as distinct from the neighbouring Duchy, is an administrative region and a traditional province of eastern France...

, and the prologue features nymphs longing for his return from battle. The opera itself concerns Alceste, princess of Iolcos

Iolcos

Iolcos is an ancient city, a modern village and a former municipality in Magnesia, Thessaly, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Volos, of which it is a municipal unit. It is located in central Magnesia, north of the Pagasitic Gulf. Its land area is only...

 and queen of Thessaly

Thessaly

Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....

, who in the first act is abducted by Licomède (Lycomedes

Lycomedes

Lycomedes , in Greek mythology, was the King of Scyros during the Trojan War.-Lycomedes and Achilles:Before the war, Thetis sent her son Achilles, disguised as a girl, to Lycomedes's court, as a prophecy had decreed that he would die at Troy. It was there that Achilles married Lycomedes' daughter...

), king of Scyros, with the aid of his sister Thetis

Thetis

Silver-footed Thetis , disposer or "placer" , is encountered in Greek mythology mostly as a sea nymph or known as the goddess of water, one of the fifty Nereids, daughters of the ancient one of the seas with shape-shifting abilities who survives in the historical vestiges of most later Greek myths...

, a sea nymph; Aeolus

Aeolus

Aeolus was the ruler of the winds in Greek mythology. In fact this name was shared by three mythic characters. These three personages are often difficult to tell apart, and even the ancient mythographers appear to have been perplexed about which Aeolus was which...

, the god of the winds; and other supernatural forces. In the battle to rescue her, Alcide (Hercules

Hercules

Hercules is the Roman name for Greek demigod Heracles, son of Zeus , and the mortal Alcmene...

) is triumphant, but Alceste’s husband, Admète (Admetus

Admetus

In Greek mythology, Admetus was a king of Pherae in Thessaly, succeeding his father Pheres after whom the city was named. Admetus was one of the Argonauts and took part in the Calydonian Boar hunt. His wife Alcestis offered to substitute her own death for his.-Mythology:Admetus was famed for his...

), suffers a mortal wound. Apollo

Apollo

Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...

 agrees to let Admète live if someone will take his place in death. Alceste volunteers herself but is rescued by Alcide, who loves her. The opera ends with a celebration of Alceste’s return from the underworld and of Alcide’s noble gallantry in returning her to her husband and relinquishing any claims to her.

Alceste is Lully’s second tragédie en musique, after Cadmus et Hermione

Cadmus et Hermione

Cadmus et Hermione is a tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully. The French-language libretto is by Philippe Quinault, after Ovid’s Metamorphoses. It was first performed on April 27, 1673, by the Paris Opera at the Jeu de Béquet.The prologue, in praise of King Louis...

.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, January 19, 1674 (Conductor: – )
Nymph of the Seine	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Mlle de Saint-Christophe (or Saint-Christophle)
La Gloire	soprano	Mlle de La Garde
Nymph of the Tuileries	soprano	Mlle Rebel
Nymph of the Marne	soprano	Mlle Ferdinand
Alceste, Princess of Iolcos	soprano	Mlle de Saint-Christophe
Admète, King of Thessaly	haute-contre Haute-contre The haute-contre is a rare type of high tenor voice, predominant in French Baroque and Classical opera until the latter part of the eighteenth century.-History:...	Bernard Clédière
Alcide (Hercules), Greek hero	basse-taille Bass-baritone A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende...	François Beaumavielle François Beaumavielle François Beaumavielle was a French operatic bass-baritone.Trained in Toulouse, he was engaged at the Académie Royale de Musique in Paris by Pierre Perrin and Robert Cambert, where he created their opera Pomone in 1671....
Licomède, King of Scyros and brother of Thetis	basse-taille	Godonesche
Lychas, confidant of Alcide	haute-contre	Langeais
Straton, confidant of Lycomedes	bass	Antoine Morel
Céphise, confidante of Alcestis	soprano	Mlle Beaucreux
Cléante, knight of Admetus	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Frizon
Pherès, father of Admetus	tenor	Gingan
Charon,	baritone	Morel
Pluton,	bass	Godonesche
Thétis, a sea-nymph	soprano	Mlle des Fronteaux (or Desfronteaux)
Apollon,	haute-contre	Le Roy
Proserpine,	soprano	Mlle Bony
The Ghost of Alcestis,	silent role
Alecton, a Fury	haute-contre (en travesti En travesti Travesti is a theatrical term referring to the portrayal of a character in an opera, play, or ballet by a performer of the opposite sex. Some sources regard 'travesti' as an Italian term, some as French. Depending on sources, the term may be given as travesty, travesti, or en travesti... )	Le Roy
A Rebuffed Ghost,	soprano
Eole, King of the winds	baritone	Pulvigny
Diane,	soprano	Mlle Piesche

Synopsis

The musical numbers are as follows:
1. Marche Des Combattons
2. Menuet
3. Loure Pour Les Pecheurs
4. Echos
5. Rondeau De La Gloire
6. La Pompe Funebre
7. Rondeau Pour La Fête
8. Les Vents
9. La Fête Infernale
10. Les Demons
11. Marche Des Assiegeants

Notable recordings

• Alceste with conductor
  Conducting
  Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
  
   Jean-Claude Malgoire
  Jean-Claude Malgoire
  Jean-Claude Malgoire is a French conductor.He was born in Avignon, France and studied music locally and at the Paris Conservatory. His early musical career was as an oboist....
  
   and La Grande Ecurie et La Chambre du Roy
  La Grande Écurie et la Chambre du Roy
  La Grande Écurie et la Chambre du Roy is a French musical ensemble that performs using period instruments. The group was founded in 1966 by Jean-Claude Malgoire. While the ensemble has performed a wide repertoire from a variety of musical periods, the group has drawn particular acclaim for their...
  
  . Cast includes: Jean-Philippe Lafont, Colette Alliot-Lugaz
  Colette Alliot-Lugaz
  Colette Alliot-Lugaz is a French soprano, particularly associated with Mozart.-Career:Born in Notre-Dame-de-Bellecombe, she began her musical studies in Bonneville , and later in Geneva, with Magda Fonay-Besson. She completed her training at the Paris Opéra-Studio with René Koster and Vera Rosza...
  
  , Howard Crook
  Howard Crook
  Howard Crook is an American lyric tenor who has lived and worked in the Netherlands and France since the early 1980s.He was born in Rutherford, New Jersey, and educated at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio and then University of Illinois, where he received a master's degree in music,...
  
  , Veronique Gens
  Véronique Gens
  Véronique Gens is a French soprano. She has spent much of her career recording and performing Baroque music....
  
  , Francois Loup, Jean-Francois Gardeil, Gregory Reinhart
  Gregory Reinhart
  Gregory Reinhart is an American bass opera singer. He is noted for an extremely wide repertory which ranges from early music to the world premieres of several contemporary operas including Lowell Liebermann's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Philippe Manoury's K..., and Pascal Dusapin's Perelà, uomo di...
  
  , Olivier Lallouette, Gille Ragon, and Sophie-Marin Degor. Released in 1994 on the Astree label.