Les Génies

Les Génies was billed as a ballet in four acts and a prologue with a score by Mlle Duval and a libretto by Fleury. Chouquet recalls that the composer played the harpsichord at its premiere on 18 October 1736. The Parfaict brothers point to the weakness of its libretto, and Lajarte suggests that it was this shortcoming that accounted for the withdrawal of Les Génies after only nine representations. The composition was really an opéra-ballet, because its acts were tied together by a central…