Armide
Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687)
15th February 1686. Crowds flocked to see the eleventh and last lyric tragedy by Lully and his librettist Quinault. And they were not mistaken: Armide, a true masterpiece, was to be a lasting success. The subject, taken from Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered, is well known: like its predecessors Amadis and Roland, it depicts the love of the sorceress Armide for the knight Roland. And yet this is the culmination of the classical lyric tragedy, in both literary and musical terms.
The work includes, among other pages of rare intensity, Armide’s famous monologue ‘Enfin, il est en ma puissance’, set as a model for French recitative. In the 1750s, it even became an issue in the Querelle des Bouffons, a dispute between Rameau and Rousseau. Christophe Rousset thus brings his journey through Lullist tragedy to a climax. After Roland, Persée, Bellérophon, Phaéton – whose recent recording was exceptionally well received by the critics – and Amadis, the long-awaited rediscovery of Armide by Les Talens Lyriques is the culmination of his artistic work of recent years.
Listen to a sample
Tragédie en musique in five acts with a prologue. Libretto by Philippe Quinault. First performed at the Académie royale de musique of Paris on the 15th of February 1686.
Distribution
- Christophe Rousset, Direction musicale
- Marie-Adeline Henry, Armide
- Antonio Figueroa, Renaud
- Judith van Wanroij , Phénice, la Gloire, Mélisse
- Marie-Claude Chappuis , La Sagesse, Sidonie
- Marc Mauillon, Aronte, la Haine
- Douglas Williams, Hidraot
- Cyril Auvity , Chevalier Danois, Un Amant fortuné
- Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, Artémidore
- Etienne Bazola, Ubalde
- Chœur de chambre de Namur
- Les Talens Lyriques