Bellérophon

Jean-Baptiste Lully
Operas Cadmus et Hermione (1673) Alceste (1674) Thésée (1675) Atys (1676) Isis (1677) Psyché (1678) Bellérophon (1679) Proserpine (1680) Persée (1682) Phaëton (1683) Amadis (1684) Roland (1685) Armide (1686) Acis et Galatée (1686) Achille et Polyxène (completed 1687 by Collasse)
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Bellérophon is an opera with music by Jean-Baptiste Lully and a libretto by Thomas Corneille and Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle first performed by the Opéra at the Palais Royal in Paris on 31 January 1679.

The opera played for 9 months and was one of Lully's greatest successes.

Roles

Synopsis

The queen Sténobée (soprano), spurned by Bellérophon (tenor) who loves the princess Philonoé (soprano), has the magician Amisodar (bass) turn the garden into a barren desert and summon a chimera which terrorizes the country of Lycia. Apollo (tenor) appears and all is solved.

Modern performances

The first performance in modern times was by Les Talens Lyriques conducted by Christophe Rousset at the Festival of Beaune, 24 July 2010. It was followed by a two performances in Paris, the first of which spawned the disc recording to be published in March 2011 by the recording label Aparté^[1].

Sources

• Amadeus Almanac, accessed 9 March 2011
• The New Grove French Baroque Masters, ed. Graham Sadler (Macmillan, 1986)
• The Viking Opera Guide ed. Holden (Viking, 1993)
• Le magazine de l'opéra baroque by Jean-Claude Brenac (in French)

External links

• Bellérophon: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.