Jean-Francois Lombard; Elena Harsanyi; Valeria La Grotta; Luigi De Donato; Francesca Lombardi Mazzulli; Markus Van Arsdale; Orchestra e Coro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; Benjamin Lazar - Jean-Baptiste Lully: Acis et Galatee

Having been granted unprecedented authority by Louis XIV, the Sun King, no one could stage operas in France without Jean-Baptiste Lully's permission. By 1686, however, Lully's authority was waning and his long-standing librettist deserted him to write sacred works. Despite these setbacks, Lully wrote Acis et Galatee, a pastorale heroique, and one of his final masterpieces. Its plot - the cyclops Polipheme's love for the nymph Galatee - drew from Lully an astonishing alternation of effects, a profound monologue for the nymph in Act III and a magnificent concluding Passacaille, all framed by a succession of dances and vividly conceived choruses.