Lully & Campistron: Acis Et Galatee Jean-Francois Lombard, Elena Harsanyi, Valeria La Grotta, Francesca Lombardi Mazzulli, Markus Van Ar

Having been granted unprecedented authority by Louis XIV, the Sun King, no one could stage operas in France without Jean-Baptiste Lully's permission. By 1686, however, Lully's authority was waning and his long-standing librettist deserted him to write sacred works. Despite these setbacks, Lully wrote Acis et Galatée, a pastorale héroïque, and one of his final masterpieces. It's plot - the cyclops Poliphème's love for the nymph Galatée - drew from Lully an astonishing alternation of effects, a profound monologue for the nymph in Act III and a magnificent concluding Passacaille, all framed by a succession of dances and vividly conceived choruses.