In the late 1650s, Cavalli received one of the highest honours of all, an invitation from Cardinal Mazarin to compose an opera for one of the dynastic and political events of the century - the marriage of Louis XIV of France. Things didn't go quite as well as Cavalli had hoped, however, and Donald Macleod takes us through the composer's ill-fated visit to France, and his subsequent demise in the realms of opera. Show less