Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) Pygmalion (1748)
Acte de ballet sur un livret de Sylvain Ballot de Sauvot, d’après Antoine Houdar de la Motte créé le 27 août 1748 à l’Académie royale de musique, à Paris
Pancrace Royer (ca 1705-1755) Almasis (1748)
Acte de ballet sur un livret de François-Augustin Paradis de Moncrif créé le 26 février 1748 au théâtre de Madame de Pompadour, à Versailles
Mathias Vidal ténor haute-contre Déborah Cachet soprano Natalie Perrez mezzo-soprano Ambroisine Bré mezzo-soprano David Witczak baryton
Choeur de Chambre de Namur Les Talens Lyriques Christophe Rousset direction
” These two works, by two great French composers of the time of Louis XV, Pancrace Royer and Jean-Philippe Rameau, represent the culmination of the acte de ballet genre. Music composed for the dance requires mastery of harmony and orchestration, as these composers demonstrate, each in a different way. Both works were written in France in 1748, and both have a very strong identity: Almasis, set in an earthly paradise, is an exotic fable, while Pygmalion, based on a story from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, includes the magical scene of a statue coming to life to the sound of perfectly enchanting music.“
– Christophe Rousset
