Persee (review)

The sixth of Lully's lyric tragedies written in collaboration with Philippe Quinault for the Royal Academy of Music, Persée was first performed at the Palais-Royal in the presence of King Louis XIV in April 1682. In July the work was mounted at the palace of Versailles, which only weeks before had been designated the official seat of the government (and which in time, of course, became the king's permanent residence).

Persée (whose subject was chosen by the monarch himself) is really one of Quinault's most dramatic and exciting livrets. It deftly combines two major episodes in the Greek myth of Perseus: the slaying of Medusa and the rescue of Andromeda. Pierre Corneille's 1650 Andromède had already brought the latter to the stage in a most elaborate manner, and Quinault seems to have been cognizant of that fact when constructing his version. The action is chock full of spectacular effects, and the often air-born hero requires more of an actor/ stunt artist than a singer! The (inevitable) sentimental aspect of the plot revolves around a double love triangle: Persée and Andromède love one another, but each is in turn pursued by a third individual—respectively, Mérope (the queen's sister) and Phinée (the king's brother). That Phinée's suit bears the approval of Andromède's father creates a classic love-and-duty dilemma for the heroine and causes Mérope to hope their union will leave Persée free for her. The three characters' frustration constitutes the main thread of action in the first two acts, reaching a musical high point in act 1 in a trio "Ah! que l'amour cause d'alarmes!" In act 2 Mérope and Andromède unveil to each other their feelings vis-à-vis Persée in a quaintly nonconfrontational duo, each asking the other if she loves him ("Vous l'aimez?") without answering the question, then mutually concluding that their rivalry is moot, since the hero's upcoming fight with Méduse is sure to be his downfall anyway. When Persée finally appears, late in act 2, it is clear that for him (as for Enée in Les Troyens) the call of duty (in this case, the almost impossible defense of his nation against the threat of a violent monster) takes precedence over his love for Andromède, who stoically accepts second-priority status. In act 3 Persée successfully conquers Méduse with the help of divine intervention (Mercure casts a spell over the monster by means of that ever-handy device of French baroque opera, the sommeil, and lends Persée a pair of wings to effect his escape of the Gorgons' lair). In act 4 the unlucky Andromède, whom avenging gods have made the scapegoat for Cassiope's arrogance, awaits certain death on the seashore at the hands of a horrid sea monster; the winged hero flies in just in time to rescue her (and to sing his only line in the act, "Ah! que votre danger me paraissait terrible!"). In act 5, the wedding preparations are interrupted by the ruthless Phinée, come to abduct Andromède; thanks to the warning of the (more sympathetic) Mérope, Persée is able to snatch the head of Méduse out of the sack in time to use it as a...