About the work
Tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully to a libretto by Philippe Quinault, loosely based on Euripides' tragedy 'Alcestis' (438 BC). The pair's second tragédie lyrique was first performed on 19 January 1674 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris, after rehearsals had been held at court in Versailles.
Plot
On the wedding day of Admète and Alceste, the spurned suitor Lycomède abducts the bride; in the ensuing fight Admète is mortally wounded. The god Apollo promises a cure if someone will die in Admète's place, and Alceste offers herself. Hercules descends into the underworld, wins Alceste's release from Pluto, and returns her to Admète, renouncing his own feelings for her.
Cultural significance
Despite a cabal organised by Lully's rivals against its Paris premiere, the work won over audiences after its enthusiastic reception at court and was revived repeatedly through the eighteenth century. It stands among the early tragédies lyriques with which Lully and Quinault established the genre as a French alternative to Italian opera.