- Phaëton (Lully)
"Phaëton" (LWV 61) is a "
tragédie en musique " in a prologue and five acts byJean-Baptiste Lully .Philippe Quinault wrote the Frenchlibretto after a story fromOvid 's "Metamorphoses ". It was premiered at Versailles onJanuary 6 1683 , and can be read as an allegorical depiction of the punishment awaiting those mortals who dare to raise themselves as high as the "sun" (i.e. theSun King ).Roles
ynopsis
Phaëton , the prideful and reckless son of the Sun and the ocean nymphClymene , is driven to abandon his lover Theona by his ambition for the hand of Libya, daughter of the king of Egypt. On the day of the wedding, Libya's enraged loverEpaphus , himself the son of Jupiter, disputes Phaëton's claim to divine lineage. Desiring to prove himself, Phaëton convinces his father to allow him to drive the sun-chariot for one day. In the course of his flight he loses control of the horses, threatening the earth beneath with fiery destruction; Epaphus entreats his father to put an end to the danger, and Jupiter strikes the chariot down with a thunderbolt. Phaëton falls to his death.References
* Lois Rosow: "Phaëton", "Grove Music Online" ed. L. Macy (Accessed
6 September 2006 ), [http://www.grovemusic.com www.grovemusic.com] (subscription access)
* "Phaëton" page, "Le magazine de l'opéra baroque" website (Accessed6 September 2006 ), [http://perso.orange.fr/jean-claude.brenac/LULLY_PHAETON.htm http://perso.orange.fr/jean-claude.brenac/LULLY_PHAETON.htm] (French only)
* "Phaëton (1683)" pages, "The Jean-Baptiste Lully Collection" website, University of North Texas Music Library (Accessed6 September 2006 ), [http://www.library.unt.edu/music/lully/Phaeton1683/background.htm www.library.unt.edu/music/lully/Phaeton1683/background.htm]Recording
* Lully: "Phaéton" /
Marc Minkowski ,Les Musiciens du Louvre . Erato (1997). Catalogue# 91737 (2 CDs)External links
* [http://www.library.unt.edu/music/lully/Phaeton1683/background.htm Phaëton at the Jean-Baptiste Lully Collection website] (includes detailed synopsis and pdf of first-edition score)
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