Olimpie is an opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 in three acts by Gaspare Spontini

Gaspare Spontini

Gaspare Luigi Pacifico Spontini was an Italian opera composer and conductor, extremely celebrated in his time, though largely forgotten after his death.-Biography:...

. 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...

 libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

, by Armand-Michel Dieulafoy and Charles Brifaut, is based on the play of the same name by Voltaire

Voltaire

François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...

 (1761). Olimpie 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 22 December 1819.

The work and its performance history

The Parisian premiere of Olimpie was a failure since audiences found its libretto too old-fashioned. Spontini revised the opera for performances in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 with the help of E.T.A. Hoffmann

E.T.A. Hoffmann

Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann , better known by his pen name E.T.A. Hoffmann , was a German Romantic author of fantasy and horror, a jurist, composer, music critic, draftsman and caricaturist...

, who provided a German translation of the libretto. This version was first staged at the Königliches Opernhaus on 14 May 1821, where it was a success. Olimpie calls for huge orchestral forces (including the first use of the ophicleide) and spectacular effects. In the finale of the Berlin version, Cassandre rode in on a live elephant. Thus, like Fernand Cortez

Fernand Cortez

Fernand Cortez, ou La conquête du Mexique is an opéra in three acts by Gaspare Spontini with a French libretto by Etienne de Jouy and Joseph-Alphonse d’Esmenard...

, the work prefigures later French Grand Opera

Grand Opera

Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterised by large-scale casts and orchestras, and lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on or around dramatic historic events...

.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast 22 December 1819 Conductor: Rodolphe Kreutzer Rodolphe Kreutzer Rodolphe Kreutzer was a German violinist, teacher, conductor, and composer of forty French operas.-Biography:...
Olimpie, daughter of Alexander the Great	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...	Louise-Marie-Augustine Albert
Statira, widow of Alexander the Great	soprano	Alexandre-Caroline Chevalier Branchu
Cassandre, son of the King of Macedonia	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 Nourrit
Antigone, general of Alexander, king of Greece	bass	Henri-Étienne Dérivis
Hermas, confidante of Antigone	bass	Beltrame Pouilley
Hiérofante, high priest	bass	Bonel

Act 1

Antigone, King of Greece, and Cassandre, King of Macedon, have been implicated in Alexander's murder. They have also been at war with one another but are now ready to be reconciled. Nevertheless, a new obstacle to peace arises in the form of the slave girl Aménais, with whom both the kings are in love. In reality, Aménais is Alexander the Great's daughter, Olimpie, in disguise. Statira, Alexander's widow and Olimpie's mother, has also assumed the guise of the priestess Arzane. She denounces the proposed marriage between "Aménais" and Cassandre, accusing the latter of Alexander's murder.

Act 2

Statira and Olimpie reveal their true identities to one another and to Cassandre. Olimpie defends Cassandre against Statira's accusations, claiming that he once saved her life. Statira is unconvinced and is still intent on revenge with the help of Antigone and his army.

Act 3

Olimpie is divided between her love for Cassandre and her duty to her mother. The troops of Cassandre and Antigone clash and Antigone is mortally wounded. Before dying he confesses he was responsible for the death of Alexander, not Cassandre. Cassandre and Olimpie are now free to marry.

Recordings

Year	Cast (Olimpie, Statira, Cassandre Antigone, Hermas, Hiérofante)	Conductor Orchestra, Chorus	Label Catalogue number
1966	Pilar Lorengar Pilar Lorengar Lorenza Pilar García Seta was a Spanish soprano who used the professional name Pilar Lorengar. She was best known for her interpretations of opera and the Spanish genre Zarzuela, and as a soprano she was known for her full register, a youthful timbre as well as a distinctive vibrato.Pilar was... , Fiorenza Cossotto Fiorenza Cossotto Fiorenza Cossotto is an Italian mezzo soprano. She is considered by many to be one of the great mezzo-sopranos of the 20th century.-Life and career:... , Franco Tagliavini Giangiacomo Guelfi Giangiacomo Guelfi Giangiacomo Guelfi is an operatic baritone, particularly associated with Verdi and Puccini. Born in Rome, he studied law before turning to vocal studies, in Florence, with the great baritone Titta Ruffo. Giangiacomo made his stage debut in Spoleto, as Rigoletto in 1950... , Silvio Maionica, Nicola Zacaria	Francesco Molinari-Pradelli Francesco Molinari-Pradelli Francesco Molinari-Pradelli was a prominent Italian opera conductor. He studied piano and composition at Bologna, and graduated from the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome in 1938. He made his debut at La Scala in 1946 and his Covent Garden debut in 1956... Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro alla Scala La Scala La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...  Milan	Audio CD: Opera d'Oro Cat: OPD 1395
1984	Julia Varady Julia Varady Júlia Várady is a German soprano of Hungarian origin born in Nagyvárad, Hungary .At the age of six she began violin lessons at the music conservatory in Cluj-Napoca and then, aged fourteen, voice training with Emilia Popp... , Stefania Toczyska Stefania Toczyska Stefania Toczyska , born in Grudziądz, Poland, on February 19, 1943, is a Polish mezzo-soprano of international repute.She lived in Toruń, where she attended the Music School Stefania Toczyska (née Krzywinska), born in Grudziądz, Poland, on February 19, 1943, is a Polish mezzo-soprano of... , Franco Tagliavini Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a retired German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous lieder performers of the post-war period and "one of the supreme vocal artists of the 20th century"... , Josef Becker, George Fortune	Gerd Albrecht Gerd Albrecht Gerd Albrecht is a German conductor. He was a first-prize winner at the International Conductors Competition in Besançon at age 22. His first post was as a repetiteur at the Stuttgart State Opera. Later, he became Senior Kapellmeister at the Mainz Municipal Theatre, and Generalmusikdirektor in... Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin is an orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in 1946 by American occupation forces as the RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester . It was also known as the American Sector Symphony Orchestra... , RIAS Kammerchor RIAS Kammerchor The RIAS Kammerchor is a professional chamber choir of the RIAS in Berlin, founded originally for contemporary music, with an international reputation.-History:...	Audio CD: ORFEO ORFEO ORFEO is a German classical record label founded in 1979 and launched in 1982. It has released the archives of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks. The record label was used by its owner F. Axel Merhle as a tax shelter, which resulted in his prosecution for fraud in December 1985.-... Cat: C 137 862 H