Zaïde, reine de Grenade (Zaïde, Queen of Grenada) is a ballet-héroïque written by the French Baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer

Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer

Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer was a French composer and harpsichordist.Born in Turin, Royer went to Paris in 1725, and in 1734 became maître de musique des enfants de France, responsible for the musical education of the children of the king, Louis XV...

 (c. 1705–1755), to a text by the Abbé de La Marre.

Royer’s "sparse but sensuous orchestral textures with flutes and oboes very prominent" have been praised in Zaïde together with "his exuberant choral writing and his fluid treatment of recitative and aria" (Morrison, 2005).

Performance history

Zaïde was first performed, under the direction of the composer, on 3 September 1739 for the wedding of King Louis XV

Louis XV of France

Louis XV was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and of Navarre from 1 September 1715 until his death. He succeeded his great-grandfather at the age of five, his first cousin Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, served as Regent of the kingdom until Louis's majority in 1723...

's daughter, when it ran for 44 performances, and was revived for the wedding of the dauphin in 1745, and again for the wedding of Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....

 in 1770. It has been performed in recent years, thanks to a new edition by Lionel Sawkins.

Roles

Role	Voice type Voice type A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types...	Premiere cast, 3 September 1739 Conductor Conducting Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble... : Royer Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer was a French composer and harpsichordist.Born in Turin, Royer went to Paris in 1725, and in 1734 became maître de musique des enfants de France, responsible for the musical education of the children of the king, Louis XV...
Zaïde	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 Pélissier
Isabelle	soprano	Eremans
Octave	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...  (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:... )	Pierre Jélyotte Pierre Jélyotte Pierre Jélyotte was a French operatic tenor, particularly associated with works by Rameau, Lully, Campra, and Destouches.-Life and career:...
Almanzor	tenor (haute-contre)	Denis-François Tribou
Zuléma	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...	François Le Page
Ballerina		Marie Sallé Marie Sallé Marie Sallé was a French dancer and choreographer known for her expressive, dramatic performances rather than a series of "leaps and frolics" typical of ballet of her time...
Ballerino		Louis Dupré

Synopsis

The plot is quite simple. Queen Zaïde in the Alhambra

Alhambra

The Alhambra , the complete form of which was Calat Alhambra , is a palace and fortress complex located in the Granada, Andalusia, Spain...

 has to decide between the love of two rival Moorish

Moors

The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...

 princes and chooses the good prince.

Sources

• Amadeus Almanac, accessed 28 July 2008
• http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,14936-1830042,00.htmlReview of Zaïde by Richard Morrison in The Times
  The Times
  The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
  
  of London] October 18, 2005