L'Europe galante is an opéra-ballet

Opéra-ballet

Opéra-ballet was a popular genre of French Baroque opera, "that grew out of the ballets à entrées of the early seventeeth century". It differed from the more elevated tragédie en musique as practised by Jean-Baptiste Lully in several ways...

 in a prologue and four entrées by André Campra

André Campra

André Campra was a French composer and conductor.Campra was one of the leading French opera composers in the period between Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau. He wrote several tragédies en musique, but his chief claim to fame is as the creator of a new genre, opéra-ballet...

, The French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 text was by Antoine Houdar de la Motte

Antoine Houdar de la Motte

Antoine Houdar de la Motte was a French author.He was born and died in Paris. In 1693 his comedy, Les Originaux, was a complete failure, and so depressed the author that he contemplated joining the Trappists. Four years later he began writing texts for operas and ballets, e.g...

.

The opera is regarded as the first opéra-ballet, with the entrées sharing a common theme - in this case 'love' in four different countries, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 (entrée 1), Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 (entrée 2), Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 (entrée 3) and Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 (entrée 4) - rather than a common narrative.

Performance history

L'Europe galante was first performed at the Paris Opéra

Académie Royale de Musique

The Salle Le Peletier was the home of the Paris Opera from 1821 until the building was destroyed by fire in 1873. The theatre was designed and constructed by the architect François Debret on the site of the former Hôtel de Choiseul...

 on 24 October 1697 under Marin Marais

Marin Marais

Marin Marais was a French composer and viol player. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully, often conducting his operas, and with master of the bass viol Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe for 6 months. He was hired as a musician in 1676 to the royal court of Versailles...

. It was successful and was revived periodically until 1775.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 24 October 1697 (Conductor: Marin Marais Marin Marais Marin Marais was a French composer and viol player. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully, often conducting his operas, and with master of the bass viol Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe for 6 months. He was hired as a musician in 1676 to the royal court of Versailles...  )
Vénus (prologue)	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Clément
Philène (1)	haute-contre Haute-contre The haute-contre is a rare type of high tenor voice, predominant in French Baroque and Classical opera until the latter part of the eighteenth century.-History:...  or high tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Antoine Boutelou
Silvandre (1)	bass	Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard was a French operatic baritone .Thévenard was born at Orléans or possibly Paris. Arriving in Paris in 1690, he studied under the composer André Cardinal Destouches and went on to become a member of the Académie Royale de Musique...
Céphise (1)	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Marie-Louise Desmatins
Doris (1)	soprano	Dupeyré
Dom Carlos (2)	bass	Charles Hardouin Charles Hardouin Charles Hardouin was a French operatic baritone .Beginning his career as a cathedral singer, Hardouin was engaged by the Paris Opéra as a principal singer around 1693-1694, though from 1697 onwards he was eclipsed by the more powerful Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard...
Dom Pédro (2)	haute-contre Haute-contre The haute-contre is a rare type of high tenor voice, predominant in French Baroque and Classical opera until the latter part of the eighteenth century.-History:...  or high tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Pierre Chopelet
Octavio (3)	haute-contre Haute-contre The haute-contre is a rare type of high tenor voice, predominant in French Baroque and Classical opera until the latter part of the eighteenth century.-History:...  or high tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Louis Gaulard Dumesny Louis Gaulard Dumesny Dumesnil was a French operatic tenor . His surname is sometimes found spelt Duménil, Dumény, du Mény, or Du Mesny....
Olympia (3)	soprano	Fanchon Moreau Fanchon Moreau Françoise 'Fanchon' Moreau was a French operatic soprano who belonged to the Académie Royale de Musique, also a celebrated beauty who was a favourite of the Great Dauphin.-Opera career:...
Zuliman (4)	bass	Thévenard
Roxane (4)	soprano	Marie Le Rochois Marie Le Rochois Marie Le Rochois was a French operatic soprano who belonged to the Académie Royale de Musique. She is often referred to as Marthe Le Rochois or simply La Rochois.-Opera career:...
Zäide (4)	soprano	Desmatins

Sources

Amadeus Almanac

• Anthony, James R (1992), 'Europe galante, L in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera
  New Grove Dictionary of Opera
  The New Grove Dictionary of Opera is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes....
  
  , ed. Stanley Sadie (London) ISBN 0-333-73432-7