Céphale et Procris was first given at Versailles on 30 December 1773 as part of the royal wedding celebrations of the Comte d'Artois and Princess Maria Theresa of Savoy. It was not well received as the audience found the music too modern. It was revived at the Académie royale de musique on 2 May 1775, where it ran for 12 performances. Again, the reception was poor, with critics focussing on the inadequacies of Marmontel's libretto. A revival in May 1777 was more successful, with a total of 26 performances.
Music and libretto
Céphale et Procris was part of a movement to introduce a more Italianate style of writing recitative, arias and ensembles into serious French opera. It thus has much in common with such contemporary works as Philidor's Ernelinde, princesse de Norvège and Gossec's Sabinus, both of which were also played during the Comte d'Artois' wedding festivities. Although Marmontel described the opera as a ballet héroïque, the musicologist Benoït Dratwicki writes that Céphale et Procris does not really fit the genre as conceived earlier in the 18th century. Rather, it is closer to tragédie lyrique and even contains elements which look forward to Romanticism.
Roles
Synopsis
Act 1
Scene: A forest Procris is a nymph who once followed the goddess Diana but she abandoned this way of life after falling in love with the hunter Cephalus. Aurora, goddess of the dawn, is also in love with Cephalus and plots to eliminate her rival. She disguises her identity and prophesies that Cephalus will become an instrument of Diana's vengeance and kill Procris. To avoid this fate, Cephalus runs away from Procris.
Act 2
Scene: Aurora's palace Cephalus takes refuge in Aurora's palace but the goddess's promises of a life of bliss fail to seduce him from his unwavering love for Procris.
Act 3
Scene: A desolate place in the middle of a forest Jealousy torments Procris with fears that Cephalus has deserted her. Cephalus is out hunting. As he approaches, Procris hides in the undergrowth to eavesdrop on him. Mistaking her sighs for the sounds of an animal, Cephalus shoots her with an arrow and mortally wounds her. Diana's vengeance is fulfilled. But Cupid descends from the heavens, revives Procris and grants the couple immortality.
Recordings
Complete opera
Céphale et Procris, Pierre-Yves Pruvot, Katia Vellétaz, Les Agrémens et le Chœur de Chambre de Namur, conducted by Guy Van Waas
Ballet suite
On Grétry: Suites and Overtures, Orchestre de Bretagne, conducted by Stefan Sanderling
