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25-562: Quinault was educated by the liberality of François Tristan l'Hermite , the author of Marianne . Quinault's first play was produced at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in 1653, when he was only eighteen. The piece succeeded, and Quinault followed it up, but he also read for the bar; and in 1660, when he married a widow with money, he bought himself a place in the Cour des Comptes . Then he tried tragedies ( Agrippa , etc.) with more success. He received one of

50-520: A burlesque novel, the Page disgracie . He was, in succession, poet to Gaston d'Orléans , to the duchesse de Chaulnes and the duke of Guise . His first tragedy , Marianne (1636), was also his best. It was followed by Penthée (1637), La Mort de Seneque (1644), La Mort de Crispe (1645) and the Parasite (1654). He was also the author of some admirable lyrics. Three of his best plays are printed in

75-596: A character – not Renaud, who spends most of the opera under Armide's spell, but Armide, who repeatedly tries without success to choose vengeance over love. Armide was first performed on 15 February 1686 by the Paris Opera at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal , with scenery by Bérain , in the presence of the Grand Dauphin . The subject for the opera was chosen for Lully by King Louis XIV of France . However,

100-419: A decision far more humane than murdering Renaud, by casting a further spell to make him fall in love with her. The bass amplifies and is much more emphatic in this part, while the supporting dynamic harmony permits a more melodic style. The idea is elaborated with accompanying music that evokes love and idealism, similar to the structure of a minuet. Repetition is also prevalent with the orchestra first introducing

125-431: A hand, and which was set to the music of Jean-Baptiste Lully . Here he showed a remarkable faculty for lyrical drama, and from this time until just before his death he confined himself to composing libretti for Lully's work. This was not only very profitable (for he is said to have received four thousand livres for each, which was much more than was usually paid even for tragedy), but it established Quinault's reputation as

150-481: A new form of recitative. Armide was one of Lully's last operas and is therefore extremely developed in style. The opera's instrumental overture is divided into two parts, all with the same highly professional sound, as if to accompany the entrance of a highly revered authority. It is in fact, according to the Norton Anthology of Western Music, a "majesty suitable to the king of France, whose entrance into

175-469: Is in the form of a tragédie en musique , a genre invented by Lully and Quinault. Critics in the 18th century regarded Armide as Lully's masterpiece. It continues to be well-regarded, featuring some of the best-known music in French baroque opera and being arguably ahead of its time in its psychological interest. Unlike most of his operas, Armide concentrates on the sustained psychological development of

200-414: Is left enraged, despairing, and hopeless. Roughly eight decades following Monteverdi's L'Orfeo , Jean-Baptiste Lully produced Armide with his longtime collaborator, playwright Jean-Philippe Quinault. Together they had developed the tragédie en musique, or tragédie lyrique, which served as a new form of opera that combined elements of classical French drama with ballet, the French song tradition, and

225-823: The First Crusade , Armide ensnares her enemy the Christian knight Renaud with her magic spells. At the moment she raises her dagger to kill him, she finds herself falling in love with him. She casts a spell to make him love her in return. Upon returning to her castle, she cannot bear that Renaud's love is only the work of enchantment. She calls on the Goddess of Hate to restore her hatred for Renaud, but fails to escape from her feelings of love for him. The Goddess condemns Armide to eternal love. Before Armide can return to Renaud, two of his fellow soldiers reach Renaud and break Armide's spell. Renaud manages to escape from Armide, who

250-530: The Théâtre français of 1737. He took his pseudonym from Tristan l'Hermite , a shadowy figure of the late Middle Ages who was provost of the marshals of the King's household under Louis XI of France . He died of tuberculosis . Attribution: Armide (Lully) Armide is an opera in five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully . The libretto by Philippe Quinault is based on Torquato Tasso 's poem La Gerusalemme liberata ( Jerusalem Delivered ). The work

275-402: The best—are much better. In assessing Quinault's comedy work, Patricia Howard noted the influence of Préciosité , especially in the female roles: "For if in French theatre in the second half of the century, women's roles are preeminent, it was the précieux movement which made them so." In 1671 he contributed to the singular miscellany of Psyché , in which Pierre Corneille and Molière also had

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300-422: The entire melody, and Armide echoing its sentiment. A variation begins with Armide's changing emotions, resulting in a dance-like feel that contains orchestral preludes and a pair of recitative styles. A segment in the 1987 anthology film Aria is based loosely on the plot of Armide . Directed by Jean-Luc Godard , it is set in a gym and uses a selection of music from Philippe Herreweghe 's first recording of

325-572: The famous, ancient Greek myth: Fran%C3%A7ois Tristan l%27Hermite François l'Hermite (c. 1601 – 7 September 1655) was a French dramatist who wrote under the name Tristan l'Hermite . He was born at the Château de Soliers in the Haute Marche . His adventures began early, for he killed his enemy in a duel at the age of thirteen, and was obliged to flee to England. The story of his childhood and youth he embroiders in

350-626: The first exchanges in what would later become known as the Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns . All these were classical in subject, and so was Proserpine (1680), which was superior to any of them. The Triumph of Love (1681) is a mere ballet, but in Persée (1682) and Phaëton (1683) Quinault returned to the classical opera. Then he finally deserted it for romantic subjects, in which he

375-1009: The king would not attend the première or any of the following performances, possibly because Lully was involved in a homosexual scandal. The opera was well received by the Parisians and was revived by the Paris Opera in 1703, 1713–14, 1724, 1746–47, 1761, and 1764. Between 1686 and 1751 Armide was mounted in Marseilles , Brussels , Lyon , Lunéville and perhaps Metz , and was also produced abroad in The Hague , Berlin (with revisions by Carl Heinrich Graun ) and apparently, in two concert performances, in Rome . On 5 November 2005, almost 320 years later, Opera Atelier of Toronto gave Armide its North American premiere under conductor Andrew Parrott and music director David Fallis . During

400-666: The literary pensions then recently established, and was elected to the Académie française in 1670. Up to this time he had written some sixteen or seventeen comedies, tragedies, and tragi-comedies , which began at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in 1653, and of which the tragedies were mostly of very small value and the tragi-comedies of little more. But his comedies—especially his first piece Les Rivales (1653), L'Amant indiscret (1654), which has some likeness to Molière 's Étourdi, Le Fantôme amoureux (1659), and La Mère coquette (1665), perhaps

425-399: The ludicrous doggerel which has made the name libretto a byword, and they have quite enough dramatic merit to carry the reader, much more the spectator, along with them. It is not an exaggeration to say that Quinault, coming at the exact time when opera became fashionable out of Italy, had very much to do with establishing it as a permanent European genre. His first piece after Psyché (1671)

450-608: The master of a new style—so that even Boileau , who had previously satirized his dramatic work, praised, not the opera, which he did not like, but Quinault's remarkably ingenious and artist-like work in it. His libretti are among the very few which are readable without the music, and which are yet carefully adapted to it. The very artificiality of the French lyric of the later 17th century, and its resemblance to alexandrines cut into lengths, were aids to Quinault in arranging lyrical dialogue. They certainly do not contain very exalted poetry or very perfect drama. But they are quite free from

475-525: The opera is Act II, scene 5, a monologue by the enchantress Armide, considered "one of the most impressive recitatives in all of Lully's operas". Armide, accompanied by only continuo, alternates between glorying in her own power and succumbing to piercing angst. Clutching a dagger, she expresses her unyielding desire to kill the knight Renaud, who has foiled her plan to keep the knights of the Crusades in captivity. Though not elaborate in terms of orchestration,

500-457: The opera with Rachel Yakar in the title role. ("Ah! Si la liberté...", "Enfin, il est en ma puissance", "Venez, venez, Haine implacable"). Apart from Herreweghe's two recordings, mentioned above, there are two other recordings: a budget version on Naxos and Christophe Rousset's account, released on the Aparté label in 2017. A 2008 video recording of William Christie 's staging of Armide at

525-586: The techniques of dramatic interpretation of rhythm, impressive use of stressing on downbeats, and exaggerated use of rests beautifully complicate this piece. Renaud had taken on the heroic and courageous duty of freeing these knights, much to the vexation of Armide, who now plans to murder him as quickly and swiftly as she can, while he is fast asleep under her magical spell. A stark sense of hesitation washes over her, and her voice grows softer and more full of doubt as she finds herself unexpectedly falling in love with her sworn enemy. Her passion for revenge, to which she

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550-410: The theater the overture usually accompanied when he was in attendance". At points it is playful and bouncy, while always remaining ceremonious. The first section of the overture is in duple meter and comparatively sounds slower than the second section, when the meter changes into compound. These two different styles switch off until the conclusion of the piece (in duple meter). The most famous moment in

575-424: Was a kind of classical masque, Les Fêtes de l'Amour et de Bacchus (1672). Then came Cadmus et Hermione (1674), Alceste ou le Triomphe d'Alcide (1674), Thésée (1675), Atys (1676), one of his best pieces, and Isis (1677). Alceste was received very negatively by some critics, and this inspired a debate of published opinions by the writers Jean Racine and Charles Perrault which constitutes one of

600-565: Was even more successful. Amadis de Gaule (1684) and Roland (1685) are arguably his masterpieces, although Armide (1686) is probably the best known opera. Lully died in 1687, and Quinault, his occupation gone, became devout, and began a poem called the "Destruction of Heresy". He died on 26 November 1688, in Paris. Among his less known works is the lyrical, theatrical drama "Bellerephon", in 2 parts: ( one probably first published on 1671 and one probably first published on 1679 ), based on

625-471: Was originally so committed, gives way to her new-found love: "Let us get on with it… I tremble! Let us avenge… I sigh! / My rage is extinguished when I approach him / He seems to be made for love." The exaggerated use of rests is exemplified perfectly here, in measures 38–42, amidst her rage and vengefulness. Armide is struck by her contradictory and confusing feelings of love, and the use of ellipses conveys this dramatic hesitation and inner turmoil. She reaches

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