Zéphire et Flore

Zéphire et Flore has a certain historical interest if only because it was the first composition given at the Palais-Royal to which Jean-Baptiste Lully did not make a direct contribution. An opéra-ballet in three acts and a prologue, its score was written by Louis and Jean-Louis de Lully, and its libretto was by Michel du Boullay. It was given initially on 22 March 1688, the first anniversary of the death of the composers’ father. The unpublished Journal de l’Opéra does not specify how many…