Les surprises de l'Amour
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Les surprises de l'Amour is an opéra-ballet in two (in later versions three or four) entrées and a prologue by the French composer Jean-Philippe Rameau. It was first performed at Versailles on the 27th November 1748. The opera was set to a libretto by Pierre-Joseph Bernard. The work has a particularly convoluted performance history. Mme de Pompadour created two of the original soprano roles, Urania and Venus and commissioned the work, which was then performed at her private theatre. The work, in this first form, was comprised of two entrées, "La lyre enchantée" and "Adonis", in addition to an allegorical prologue relating to the celebration of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. When the work was revived at the Paris Opéra in 1757 the prologue, no longer relevant, was cut and a new overture substituted in its place. The two original entrées were heavily revised and further one, Anacréon, added. A short while later the original "La lyre enchantée" was cut and replaced by a version of Les sibarites, an acte de ballet by Rameau to a libretto by Jean-François Marmontel first performed in 1753. After this performance the different entrées were swapped around at various times for later performances. Writing in Grove Music Online, Graham Sadler considers the air "Nouvelle Hébé, charmante Lycoris" for Anacreon's bass voice to be especially fine.
[edit] Reference
Graham Sadler: "Les surprises de l'Amour", Grove Music Online ed L. Macy (Accessed 03 January 2007), grovemusic.com, subscription access.
