Persée (Philidor)
Tragédie lyrique by François-André Danican Philidor
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Persée (Perseus) is an opera by the French composer François-André Danican Philidor first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique, Paris (the Paris Opera) on 27 October 1780.[1] It takes the form of a tragédie lyrique in three acts. The text is a reworking, by Jean-François Marmontel, of a libretto by Philippe Quinault, originally set by Jean-Baptiste Lully in 1682. Philidor's version was not a success.
LibrettistJean-François Marmontel
LanguageFrench
Based onPhilippe Quinault's libretto for Persée
Premiere
| Persée | |
|---|---|
| Tragédie lyrique by François-André Danican Philidor | |
Portrait of Philidor, London, 1777 | |
| Librettist | Jean-François Marmontel |
| Language | French |
| Based on | Philippe Quinault's libretto for Persée |
| Premiere | |
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast |
|---|---|---|
| Céphée (Cepheus), King of Ethiopia | basse-taille (bass-baritone) | Moreau |
| Cassiope (Cassiopeia), wife of Céphée | soprano | Françoise-Claude-Marie-Rosalie Campagne (called Mlle Duplant) |
| Andromède (Andromeda), daughter of Céphée and Cassiope | soprano | Rosalie Levasseur |
| Persée (Perseus), son of Jupiter | haute-contre | Joseph Legros |
| Phinée, prince of Ethiopia | bass-baritone | Henri Larrivée |
| Mercure (the god Mercury) | tenor | Étienne Lainez |
| Méduse Medusa, a Gorgon | soprano | Mlle Duranci (also spelled Durancy)[2] |
| Euryale, a Gorgon (travesti) | haute-contre | Jean-Joseph Rousseau[3] |
| Stenone, a Gorgon (travesti) | ? | Perré |
| Orcas, an Ethiopian | bass-baritone | Auguste-Athanase (Augustin) Chéron |
| Proténor, an Ethiopian | taille (bari-tenor) | François Laïs (or Lays) |
| Un cyclope (a cyclops) | bass-baritone | Durand |
| A Triton | ? | Perré |
| Vénus (the goddess Venus) | soprano | Châteauvieux |
| Une nymphe guerrière (a warrior nymph) | soprano | Suzanne Joinville |
