Armide. Opera by Lully. The harmonic poem, Vincent Dumestre. Palace of Versailles CVS 124.

The most popular French baroque operas are primarily those of Rameau. Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687), “the composer of Louis XIV”, established standards and “absolutes” in this respect, which Rameau (1683-1764) then worked hard to surpass, circumvent and pulverize. It is nevertheless fascinating to be able to understand, perceive and touch the quintessence of this French aesthetic base created by the Italian Lully. We approach it through opera Atyswell served, including in this same collection by Christophe Rousset recently. Because Lully is the promoter of the tragedy in music, a genre that associates him with the playwright Philippe Quinault. Lully/Quinault is as strong as Mozart/Da Ponte, Armida (1686) being the last tragedy of the duo. Armide is the sorceress, in love with Rinaldo, who is also found in the Rinaldo by Handel or theArmida by Rossini or Gluck, all of these subjects being derived from a text by Tasso. The new version is sumptuous, with Stéphanie d’Oustrac, Cyril Auvity, Eva Zaïcik and the Quebecer Tomislav Lavoie.

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