About the work
Tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully to a libretto by Philippe Quinault, based on the Spanish chivalric romance 'Amadis de Gaula' by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo in Nicolas Herberay des Essarts's French version. Louis XIV himself gave Quinault the subject; the work was first performed on 18 January 1684 at the Académie royale de musique in Paris after a planned premiere at Versailles was postponed by the queen's death.
Plot
The knight Amadis loves Princess Oriane, but the sorcerer Arcalaüs opposes their union with dark magic. The sorceress Arcabonne falls in love with Amadis herself, putting her at odds with her own brother. The good fairy Urgande eventually resolves the entanglements and unites the lovers in the enchanted palace of Apollidon.
Cultural significance
The chaconne of the fifth act remains one of the choreographically most demanding movements of the tragédie lyrique. The work was revived repeatedly for nearly a century after its premiere, last in 1771 with the celebrated singer Sophie Arnould, before returning to the stage regularly only from the 2000s onward.