Amadis de Grèce

Amadis de Grèce (Amadis of Greece) is an opera by the French composer André Cardinal Destouches, first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique (the Paris Opera) on 26 March 1699. It takes the form of a tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts. The libretto, by Antoine Houdar de La Motte, is based on the medieval romance Amadis de Gaula. La Motte's text was adapted to produce the Italian-language libretto for Handel's opera seria Amadigi di Gaula (1715).

• A young sailor
• An Enchanter
• An enchanted Knight
• An enchanted Princess
• The party leader
• Two Shepherds

Rehearsals were held at Fontainebleau on October 17 and 24, as well as on November 7, 1698. Here is what the Marquis de Dangeau recorded in his Journal :

"The king went to shoot. In the evening he heard in the chamber of Saint-Louis the repetition of a music made by Destouches for a new opera."

— Journal by Marquis Dangeau^[1]

"In the evening they repeated in the gallery des Cerfs half of the new opera made by Destouches."

— Journal by Marquis Dangeau^[1]

"In the evening, the last three acts of Destouches' new opera were repeated in the Galerie des Cerfs."

— Journal by Marquis Dangeau^[1]

Amadis de Grèce was premiered in the Académie Royale de Musique on the 26 of March, 1699.

Amadis de Grèce was performed in the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels in 1711.^[2]

Amadis de Grèce was performed during the Queen's Concerts in March 1732. The prologue and act I were performed on March 3 of 1732, then acts II and II on March 5, acts IV and V on March 10.^[2]

• (in French) Libretto at "Livres baroques"^{[permanent dead link‍]}
• (in French) Félix Clément and Pierre Larousse Dictionnaire des Opéras, Paris, 1881
• (in French) Opéra Baroque, Amadis de Grèce
• Viking Opera Guide, ed. Amanda Holden (Viking, 1993): article on Amadis, p.262