Rameau’s Hippoltye et Aricie

Rameau dipped his toe into the world of opera with this debut work at the age of 50. He’d have been forgiven for not writing another, given the divided response to the five-act tragedy upon its Paris premiere in 1733. It ignited fury from opera lovers beholden to Lully and bewitched those who were dazzled by its extravagances. Structurally no different to your average Lully opera, Rameau’s take on the art form was musically ambitious, to say the least. Revivals were popular enough in his lifetime, but the work soon vanished from the stage after his death.