Les Festes de Paphos

Les Festes de Paphos is a heroic ballet in three entrées entitled Vénus et Adonis (words by Collé), Bacchus et Erigone (words by La Bruère), L’Amour et Psyché (words by Voisenon). The scores for these three librettos were provided by Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville, and his music in this instance won him the distinction of being designated as the leader of the French faction in the guerre des bouffons, In a restricted sense, then, Les Festes de Paphos may be said to have pushed the composer…