Tragedie Lyrique

In the second half of the century opera began to spread to other countries.  The French would never be content with merely imitating the Italians and created their own unique genre.  For one thing they hated the use of castrati.  The English were more in tune with the French and followed them.

The first opera in French was Pastorale (1659) by Robert Cambert (c.1628-77) on a text by Abbé Perrin. A vogue was established with Pomone (1671) by Cambert, and quickly adopted by Lully with Cadmus et Hermione (1673). His operas were characterized by

(a) large ballets and choruses,

(b) a new recitative style with frequent meter changes,

(c) a thick, five-voice texture,

(d) French Overture, and

(e) short simple arias in aabb form.

His librettist was Jean-Philippe Quinault. Other Lully operas were Alceste (1674), Persée (1682), Amadis (1684), Roland (1685) and Armide (1686).