Amadis de Gaule

Amadis de Gaule, or Amadis, had been performed at the Royal Academy of Music in 1684, when it had been composed of a poem by Philippe Quinault and a score by Jean-Baptiste Lully (for Amadis, Lully, and Quinault, see seventeenth-century volume). Although Lully’s music was well enough liked by audiences to remain in repertory for 87 years, Jean-Benjamin de La Borde decided to create a second score for Quinault’s libretto, and the resultant work was given its world premiere at the Opéra on 26…