Voltaire, François Marie Arouet de

Voltaire, François Marie Arouet de (21 November 1694, Paris; 30 May 1778, Paris), librettist, was not a prolific contributor of librettos to the Royal Academy of Music despite his active interest in the theatre, the importance of his plays on the legitimate stage, and the number of operatic compositions that his tragedies inspired, for example, Olympie and Sémiramis. He was fascinated by the opera and the effects it achieved, however, and his first text for a composer was for Rameau’s…