About the work
David et Jonathas is a tragédie biblique in a prologue and five acts by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, to a libretto by the Jesuit priest François de Paule Bretonneau. It premiered on 28 February 1688 at the Collège Louis-le-Grand in Paris, originally as a musical interlude to a spoken Latin drama about King Saul.
Plot
The opera portrays the friendship between the young David and Jonathas, son of King Saul, who turns against David out of jealousy and madness. Jonathas falls in battle against the Philistines, and David mourns the loss of his closest friend.
Cultural significance
The contemporary journal Mercure galant praised the premiere explicitly; as one of the few fully preserved French biblical operas of the 17th century, David et Jonathas is regarded today as one of Charpentier's most significant works.