L'Europe galante

L'Europe galante (Galant Europe) is an opéra-ballet in a prologue and four entrées by André Campra to a French libretto by Antoine Houdar de la Motte.

The opera is regarded as the first opéra-ballet, with the entrées sharing a common theme – in this case 'love' in four countries, France (entrée 1), Spain (entrée 2), Italy (entrée 3) and Turkey (entrée 4) – rather than a common narrative.

Performance history

L'Europe Galante was first performed on 24 October 1697 by the Paris Opéra under Marin Marais in the Salle du Palais-Royal in Paris. It was successful and was revived periodically until 1775. In 1997 – on the 300th anniversary of its creation – Istanbul Baroque led by Leyla Pınar staged L'Europe Galante in Istanbul Dolmabahçe Palace. They then toured it to the Brussels Printemps baroque du Sablon festival the same year.

Roles
Roles, voice types, premiere cast
Role Voice type Premiere cast, 24 October 1697[1]
Conductor: Marin Marais
Vénus (prologue) soprano Clément
La Discorde (prologue) taille (baritenor) Claude Desvoyes
Philène (1) haute-contre (high tenor) Jean Boutelou
Silvandre (1) bass Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard
Céphise (1) soprano Marie-Louise Desmatins
Doris (1) soprano Dupeyré
Dom Carlos (2) bass Charles Hardouin
Dom Pédro (2) haute-contre (high tenor) Pierre Chopelet
Octavio (3) haute-contre (high tenor) Louis Gaulard Dumesny
Olympia (3) soprano Fanchon Moreau
Zuliman (4) bass Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard
Roxane (4) soprano Marie Le Rochois
Zäide (4) soprano Marie-Louise Desmatins

Sources
  1. Casaglia, Gherardo (2005)."L´Europe galante, 24 October 1697". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).

Further reading
  • Anthony, James R. (1992), "Europe galante, L" in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London) ISBN 0-333-73432-7
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