Le Carnaval

Le Carnaval is a pastiche in ten entrées that Lully put together in 1675 while Thésée was being sung at Court, and the Palais-Royal was seeking a new work. It was brief and designed to serve as a curtain raiser, if the need arose, but the records of the Opéra show that it was produced alone on occasion. There was no real unity in the composition, and none was intended, since it was presented in whole or in part as a suite of entertaining interludes; for example, the entrée of Les Espagnols and…