Les surprises de l'Amour

Les surprises de l'Amour is an "opéra-ballet" in two (in later versions three or four) "entrées" and a prologue by the French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau. It was first performed at Versailles on the 27th November 1748. The opera was set to a libretto by Pierre-Joseph Bernard.

Performance history

Mme de Pompadour created two of the original soprano roles, Urania and Venus and commissioned the work, which was then performed at her private theatre. The work, in this first form, was composed of two "entrées", "La lyre enchantée" and "Adonis", in addition to an allegorical prologue relating to the celebration of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. When the work was revived at the Paris Opéra in 1757 the prologue, no longer relevant, was cut and a new overture substituted in its place. The two original "entrées" were heavily revised and further one, "Anacréon", added. A short while later the original "La lyre enchantée" was cut and replaced by a version of "Les sibarites", an "acte de ballet" by Rameau to a libretto by Jean-François Marmontel first performed in 1753. After this performance the different entrées were swapped around at various times for later performances. Writing in Grove Music Online, Graham Sadler considers the air "Nouvelle Hébé, charmante Lycoris" for Anacreon's bass voice to be especially fine.

Roles

References

Graham Sadler: "Les surprises de l'Amour", "Grove Music Online" ed L. Macy (Accessed 03 January 2007), [http://www.grovemusic.com/ grovemusic.com] , subscription access.