About the work
Athalie is Racine's last tragedy, a biblical play in five acts with choral singing, first performed on 5 January 1691 at the girls' school of Saint-Cyr near Versailles before Louis XIV. As with Esther before it, Racine wrote it at the request of Madame de Maintenon for the school's pupils; the choruses were set to music by Jean-Baptiste Moreau.
Plot
The usurping Queen Athalie rules over Judah and has the descendants of the House of David hunted down, believing she has killed the last survivor, her grandson Joas. The high priest Joad, however, has secretly raised the boy inside the Temple. A dream drives Athalie into the Temple, where Joad has him proclaimed rightful king; Athalie is seized and put to death.
Cultural significance
Because the Church disapproved of public theatre, Athalie was performed only three times privately during Racine's lifetime and was not revived at the Comédie-Française until 1716, after his death. Voltaire later called it "a masterpiece of the human mind" – a verdict that placed Athalie alongside Phèdre as Racine's most admired tragedy.