Lully : Atys

After the sublime performance from Angelin Preljocaj and Leonardo García Alarcón at Versailles in 2022, here is a concert version masterfully conducted by Christophe Rousset, who is also recording it to CD for our collection.

Atys is a paragon of emerging lyric art: it places love at the centre of the plot, and its hero – for the first time in Lully's work – dies on stage, provoking a sumptuous lamentation that could wring tears from the most hardened heart. Lully's incredible music magnifies Philippe Quinault's splendid tragic text, creating their first joint masterpiece.

This masterpiece by Lully and Quinault, described as the “King's Opera” when first performed before the Court in 1676, would also be a high point in the rediscovery of great French baroque operas three centuries later, with the Christie-Villégier production presented twice at the Opéra Royal de Versailles.

"Atys is a must in the Lully cycle performed by Les Talens Lyriques. It so happens that I was the assistant to William Christie when the work was revived at the Opéra Comique to mark the anniversary of Lully's death in 1987. For me, playing Atys was an obvious choice, but not at the beginning of my Lully career. I wanted to give a personal interpretation of the work, to explore it differently, from a different interpretive principle and bringing together leading soloists. Performing an opera relies heavily on the personality of the singers, who give a new lease of life into the characters they embody, new blood. Together we will, at the very least, endeavour to bring new colour and energy to this masterpiece."

Christophe Rousset