Unlike most of Rameau's operas, which took a while to get established, this work was an instant success, It was premiered at the Paris Opera in 1739 but its first complete UK performance was not until 1974. In Rameau's day, this opera was better known by its subtitle Les Talents Lyriques, which goes some way to explaining the content of the opera. In the prologue, Hebe, cup-bearer of the Gods, is getting bored with Olympus. She persuades her attendants to fly to the banks of the Seine with her and celebrate the three most valued attributes of the operatic stage - poetry, music and dance. These
"lyric talents" are then the subject of the following three entrees. This concert performance was recorded earlier this month at the Barbican Centre, London.
Les Arts Florissants, conductor William Christie