About the work
Tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts by André Campra, to a libretto by Antoine Danchet after a play by Crébillon père. It was first performed on 12 January 1712 by the Académie royale de musique at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris.
Plot
King Idoménée vows to the sea god Neptune that, having survived a storm, he will sacrifice the first person he meets on his native shore – who turns out to be his own son, Idamante. The conflict between fatherly love, royal duty and religious obligation drives the plot to catastrophe.
Cultural significance
The same story later provided the basis for Mozart's opera seria Idomeneo. Campra's setting displays the formal range of the tragédie en musique between Lully and Rameau and ranks among the more demanding works of his output.