About the work
Tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts by Jean-Baptiste Lully, first performed on 19 April 1678 by the Académie royale de musique at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris. The libretto is by Thomas Corneille – possibly with the collaboration of Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle – who reused several intermèdes Lully had already composed in 1671 for the comedy-ballet of the same name by Molière, Pierre Corneille and Quinault. According to the Mercure galant, text and music were written in just three weeks.
Plot
Psyché, whose beauty provokes the jealousy of Venus, falls in love with Venus's son Cupid. Driven by envy and suspicion, Venus subjects her to a series of trials, including a journey into the underworld. Only after enduring these ordeals is Psyché made immortal and united with Cupid forever.
Cultural significance
Although Lully himself had doubts about Corneille's text, Psyché became a major stage success and was revived in 1703 and 1713. The work illustrates how Lully carried proven material from courtly comedy-ballets over into the new genre of the tragédie en musique.