About the work
Zémire et Azor is a comédie-ballet in four acts by André Grétry to a libretto by Jean-François Marmontel, premiered in 1771 at the Château de Fontainebleau. Marmontel transposed the tale of “Beauty and the Beast” by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont into an orientalised setting.
Plot
The merchant Sander falls into the power of the monstrous Azor after picking a rose in his enchanted garden and may only survive if one of his daughters takes his place. Zémire sacrifices herself for him; within the enchanted castle she comes to see past Azor’s hideous form to his inner kindness and falls in love with him, breaking a wicked fairy’s spell.
Cultural significance
The opera became Grétry’s greatest international success and was the first French opéra comique performed outside France, prompting numerous translations and adaptations across Europe and America.