About the work
Tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully to a libretto by Philippe Quinault, based on an episode from Ovid's 'Metamorphoses'. The opera was first performed on 27 April 1673 at the Jeu de Paume du Bel-Air in the Faubourg Saint-Germain in Paris in the presence of Louis XIV, and is regarded as the founding work of the genre created by Lully and Quinault.
Plot
Prince Cadmus seeks Hermione, daughter of the war god Mars, who is guarded by a dragon. To win her he must slay the dragon and overcome the army of warriors that springs from its teeth. Having passed these trials with divine help, the couple's union is celebrated.
Cultural significance
The premiere's great success helped push Molière's former theatre troupe out of the Palais-Royal shortly afterward, leaving the venue to the Académie royale de musique. With Cadmus et Hermione, Lully and Quinault created the tragédie en musique as a genre in its own right, shaping French opera for more than a century.