Médée (Charpentier)

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Médée is a tragédie mise en musique in five acts and a prologue by Marc-Antoine Charpentier to a French libretto by Thomas Corneille. It was premiered in Paris on December 4 1693. Médée is the only opera Charpentier wrote for the Académie Royale de Musique. The opera was well reviewed by contemporary critics and commentators, including Sébastien de Brossard and Évrard Titon du Tillet, as well as Louis XIV whose brother attended several performances, as did his son; however, the opera only ran until March 15 1694, although it was later revived at Lille.

Roles

Character	Description	Voice part	Original cast
Medea	Princess of Colchis	soprano	Marthe Le Rochois
Nérine	Medea's confidante	soprano	?
Jason	Prince of Thessaly	High tenor or counter-tenor	Dumesnil
Arcas	Jason's confidante	tenor	?
Créon	King of Corinth	bass	Jean Dun
Oronte	Prince of Argos	baritone	?
Créuse	Daughter of Créon	soprano	Fanchon Moreau
Cléone	Créuse's confidante	soprano	?

A chorus of Corinthians, Argians, Love’s captives, demons, and phantoms.

Recordings

• "Charpentier: Médée" with Les Arts Florissants William Christie (conductor), Jill Feldman, Jacques Bona, Sophie Boulin, Philippe Cantor, Agnès Mellon, Gilles Ragon. Harmonia Mundi (901139.41), originally released c. 1986.
• "Charpentier - Médée" with Les Arts Florissants William Christie (conductor), Sophie Daneman, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Mark Padmore, Bernard Deletré, Monique Zanetti. Erato Records (March 28 1995)
• "Charpentier - Médée" (DVD) with Le Concert Spirituel - Hervé Niquet (conductor), Stéphanie d'Oustrac, François-Nicolas Geslot, Gaëlle Mechaly, Bertrand Chuberre, Renaud Delaigue, Hanna Bayodi, Caroline Mutel. Vox Lucida - Armide (2004)

Edition

• Médée (Paperback) music by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, libretto by Thomas Corneille, edited by Edmond Lemaître, CNRS Editions (September 1, 1998) ISBN 2222039371

References

• John S. Powell. "Médée (i)", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed May 20 2006), grovemusic.com (subscription access).

Notes

External links

• Libretto (in French)

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