Vénus et Adonis

Vénus et Adonis was billed as a lyric tragedy in five acts and a prologue. Henri Desmarets wrote its musical score, and Jean-Baptiste Rousseau was the author of its libretto. Le Journal de l’Opéra is unsure about the exact date of its premiere and notes that it was offered for the first time at the Palais-Royal on 17 March 1697 according to the eighteenth-century bibliographers Léris and La Vallière, while the Parfaict brothers and Duchesne believe it had its initial representation sometime in…