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Pyrrhus loves his Trojan captive Andromaque, while Hermione loves Pyrrhus and Oreste loves Hermione. To save her son Astyanax, Andromaque agrees to marry Pyrrhus but resolves to die before the wedding; Hermione orders Oreste to kill Pyrrhus, then kills herself when the Greeks carry out the murder, leaving Oreste mad with despair.
Aucassin and Nicolette love each other, but his father Garins opposes their marriage because her parentage is unknown. After Aucassin is imprisoned and Nicolette escapes, they flee to the forest. Bongars makes peace with Garins and reveals that Nicolette is his daughter, clearing the way for the lovers to marry.
A three-act French comédie lyrique by André Grétry and Jean-Baptiste Lourdet de Santerre, based on Charles Simon Favart’s Ninette à la cour.
Aurora, who loves Cephalus, prophesies that he will kill Procris and drives him away from her. Later, as Cephalus hunts, Procris hides to listen to him; mistaking her sigh for an animal, he shoots and mortally wounds her. Cupid revives Procris and grants the couple immortality.
A three-act French opéra comique about Swiss patriots led by Guillaume Tell resisting the oppressive Austrian governor Guesler in the thirteenth century. A fuller plot is not provided.
A three-act comedy with ariettes inspired by the rosière festival tradition of the French village of Salency. André Grétry later presented a new version with a reworked libretto in 1774.
On a caravan to Cairo, Saint-Phar wins his freedom by helping the slave trader Husca repel an attack, but Husca keeps Saint-Phar’s wife Zélime enslaved. The Pasha buys her for his harem, and Saint-Phar attempts to rescue her. The Pasha’s guest Florestan discovers that Saint-Phar is his lost son, and the Pasha releases the couple so the family can reunite.
Set in Brittany, the opera concerns a love affair between a local girl and a man raised by the Huron people in America.
At an imagined congress in Prussia, European monarchs plan to divide France. Cagliostro and six women secretly manipulate the gathering, while staged ghosts foretell revolution. French patriots seize the palace, the monarchs flee in disguise, and the patriots celebrate the republic and the fall of tyranny.
Apollo, cast down from heaven for mocking Jupiter, disguises himself as shepherd Alexis and charms Palémon’s household. He courts both daughters, upsetting their arranged matches with the village musicians Pan and Marsias. A singing contest judged by Midas ends with Apollo exposing the magistrate’s foolish taste, giving him donkey’s ears, and revealing his divine identity before departing for Parnassus with the two women.
Clémentine loves Octave, known as Le Magnifique, while her tutor Aldorandin tries to marry her. Octave has secretly rescued her father Horace and servant Laurence from slavery. Laurence exposes Aldorandin’s role in their capture. Horace reunites with Clémentine and gives his blessing to her marriage to Octave.
While Isabelle’s lover Léandre is away, Cassandre persuades her to marry him. Léandre returns and she changes her mind, asking Cassandre’s portrait to accept the change; Cassandre is revealed to have been hiding behind the picture.
In Smyrna, the speculator Martin and banker Gripon search a pyramid for treasure. When Martin says there is none, Gripon suspects him of cheating and locks him inside. Jérôme and Henriette fall in love but must escape both men; after further misfortunes, Gripon learns he has been cheated and despairs of finding honesty.
A three-act French drame lyrique by André Grétry with text by Barnabé Farmian Durosoy. Its story is not described in the available account.
On her wedding day, Lucile learns from the peasant Blaise that she was secretly exchanged as an infant after his wife nursed Timante’s child. Her poorer birth seems to threaten her marriage to Dorval, but Timante persuades Dorval’s father to let the wedding proceed. The opera ends in celebration.
Merchant Don Lopez opposes the remarriage of his widowed daughter Léonore, who loves the jealous Don Alonze. A veiled Isabelle is mistaken for Léonore’s secret lover, while Florival also arrives seeking a woman he rescued and mistakenly believes the housekeeper is her. When Alonze recognizes his sister, the lovers’ misunderstandings clear; an inheritance permits Alonze to marry Léonore, and Florival marries Isabelle.
A two-act French opéra bouffon by André Grétry and Pierre Desforges, revised from the earlier Théodore et Paulin.
Tsar Peter disguises himself as a carpenter to work in a Russian shipyard, where he falls in love with and marries the peasant Catherine, later Empress Catherine I. The opera presents the royal couple as ideal rulers concerned with ordinary people, reflecting hopes during the French Revolution that Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette would follow their example.
Blondel, Richard the Lionheart’s faithful squire, searches for the imprisoned king disguised as a blind troubadour. In Linz he learns from Sir Williams and his daughter Laurette of a prisoner in the nearby castle; singing a tune known to Richard confirms the king’s identity. With help from Countess Marguerite and Williams’s men, Blondel exploits Laurette’s relationship with the governor Florestan to free Richard during a celebration.
Disinherited by his father Dolmon for marrying Hélène, Silvain lives as a poor farmer. After a landowner’s gamekeepers accuse him of poaching, Silvain recognizes the landowner as his father. Dolmon relents, and the family reconciles. The opera also argues for peasants’ traditional rights to the land.
After taking a rose from Azor’s palace garden, merchant Sander must give his life unless one of his daughters takes his place. Zémire agrees and discovers that Azor, despite his frightening appearance, is kind and lets her visit her family. When she returns and professes her love, the spell is broken: Azor becomes a handsome prince and reclaims his kingdom with Zémire.
Pyrrhus loves his Trojan captive Andromaque, while Hermione loves Pyrrhus and Oreste loves Hermione. To save her son Astyanax, Andromaque agrees to marry Pyrrhus but resolves to die before the wedding; Hermione orders Oreste to kill Pyrrhus, then kills herself when the Greeks carry out the murder, leaving Oreste mad with despair.
Aucassin and Nicolette love each other, but his father Garins opposes their marriage because her parentage is unknown. After Aucassin is imprisoned and Nicolette escapes, they flee to the forest. Bongars makes peace with Garins and reveals that Nicolette is his daughter, clearing the way for the lovers to marry.
A three-act French comédie lyrique by André Grétry and Jean-Baptiste Lourdet de Santerre, based on Charles Simon Favart’s Ninette à la cour.
Aurora, who loves Cephalus, prophesies that he will kill Procris and drives him away from her. Later, as Cephalus hunts, Procris hides to listen to him; mistaking her sigh for an animal, he shoots and mortally wounds her. Cupid revives Procris and grants the couple immortality.
A three-act French opéra comique about Swiss patriots led by Guillaume Tell resisting the oppressive Austrian governor Guesler in the thirteenth century. A fuller plot is not provided.
A three-act comedy with ariettes inspired by the rosière festival tradition of the French village of Salency. André Grétry later presented a new version with a reworked libretto in 1774.
On a caravan to Cairo, Saint-Phar wins his freedom by helping the slave trader Husca repel an attack, but Husca keeps Saint-Phar’s wife Zélime enslaved. The Pasha buys her for his harem, and Saint-Phar attempts to rescue her. The Pasha’s guest Florestan discovers that Saint-Phar is his lost son, and the Pasha releases the couple so the family can reunite.
Set in Brittany, the opera concerns a love affair between a local girl and a man raised by the Huron people in America.
At an imagined congress in Prussia, European monarchs plan to divide France. Cagliostro and six women secretly manipulate the gathering, while staged ghosts foretell revolution. French patriots seize the palace, the monarchs flee in disguise, and the patriots celebrate the republic and the fall of tyranny.
Apollo, cast down from heaven for mocking Jupiter, disguises himself as shepherd Alexis and charms Palémon’s household. He courts both daughters, upsetting their arranged matches with the village musicians Pan and Marsias. A singing contest judged by Midas ends with Apollo exposing the magistrate’s foolish taste, giving him donkey’s ears, and revealing his divine identity before departing for Parnassus with the two women.
Clémentine loves Octave, known as Le Magnifique, while her tutor Aldorandin tries to marry her. Octave has secretly rescued her father Horace and servant Laurence from slavery. Laurence exposes Aldorandin’s role in their capture. Horace reunites with Clémentine and gives his blessing to her marriage to Octave.
While Isabelle’s lover Léandre is away, Cassandre persuades her to marry him. Léandre returns and she changes her mind, asking Cassandre’s portrait to accept the change; Cassandre is revealed to have been hiding behind the picture.
In Smyrna, the speculator Martin and banker Gripon search a pyramid for treasure. When Martin says there is none, Gripon suspects him of cheating and locks him inside. Jérôme and Henriette fall in love but must escape both men; after further misfortunes, Gripon learns he has been cheated and despairs of finding honesty.
A three-act French drame lyrique by André Grétry with text by Barnabé Farmian Durosoy. Its story is not described in the available account.
On her wedding day, Lucile learns from the peasant Blaise that she was secretly exchanged as an infant after his wife nursed Timante’s child. Her poorer birth seems to threaten her marriage to Dorval, but Timante persuades Dorval’s father to let the wedding proceed. The opera ends in celebration.
Merchant Don Lopez opposes the remarriage of his widowed daughter Léonore, who loves the jealous Don Alonze. A veiled Isabelle is mistaken for Léonore’s secret lover, while Florival also arrives seeking a woman he rescued and mistakenly believes the housekeeper is her. When Alonze recognizes his sister, the lovers’ misunderstandings clear; an inheritance permits Alonze to marry Léonore, and Florival marries Isabelle.
A two-act French opéra bouffon by André Grétry and Pierre Desforges, revised from the earlier Théodore et Paulin.
Tsar Peter disguises himself as a carpenter to work in a Russian shipyard, where he falls in love with and marries the peasant Catherine, later Empress Catherine I. The opera presents the royal couple as ideal rulers concerned with ordinary people, reflecting hopes during the French Revolution that Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette would follow their example.
Blondel, Richard the Lionheart’s faithful squire, searches for the imprisoned king disguised as a blind troubadour. In Linz he learns from Sir Williams and his daughter Laurette of a prisoner in the nearby castle; singing a tune known to Richard confirms the king’s identity. With help from Countess Marguerite and Williams’s men, Blondel exploits Laurette’s relationship with the governor Florestan to free Richard during a celebration.
Disinherited by his father Dolmon for marrying Hélène, Silvain lives as a poor farmer. After a landowner’s gamekeepers accuse him of poaching, Silvain recognizes the landowner as his father. Dolmon relents, and the family reconciles. The opera also argues for peasants’ traditional rights to the land.
After taking a rose from Azor’s palace garden, merchant Sander must give his life unless one of his daughters takes his place. Zémire agrees and discovers that Azor, despite his frightening appearance, is kind and lets her visit her family. When she returns and professes her love, the spell is broken: Azor becomes a handsome prince and reclaims his kingdom with Zémire.