Soloists/Pygmalion/Lesort - Francesco Cavalli: Ercole amante ('Hercules in Love')

Francesco Cavalli, a natural successor to Monteverdi, was the most famous and influential Italian opera composer during the mid-17th century. Cardinal Mazarin, chief minister to the king, commissioned Cavalli to create a Parisian spectacle to celebrate the wedding of the �Sun King� Louis XIV and the Infanta of Spain. Ercole amante (�Hercules in Love�) was the flattering subject chosen for this regal extravaganza combining larger-than-life characters with mythology, and genuine human emotions with natural and cosmic phenomena. The result is a sumptuous Baroque spectacle, conceived on a vast scale in this lavish production by directors Val�rie Lesort and Christian Hecq.