Le carnaval de Venise

Le carnaval de Venise (English: The Carnival of Venice) is a comédie-lyrique in a prologue and three acts by the French composer André Campra. The libretto is by Jean-François Regnard. It was first performed on 20 January 1699 by the Académie royale de musique in the Salle du Palais-Royal in Paris. Campra dedicated the work to Louis, Grand Dauphin, heir apparent to the French throne, who enjoyed it and had it staged again in February 1711, shortly before his death. In one critic's assessment: "In a magisterial act of conflation, this composer blends the styles of Lully, Lalande, Monteverdi and Cavalli and manages also to foreshadow Handel and Rameau. He dreamt up a multi-hued score, capable of recapturing in Paris both the carnival spirit in general and that of the legendary Venice in particular." It was presented in July 1975 at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, conducted by Michel Plasson. Jorge Lavelli directed and the cast included Christiane Eda-Pierre, Martine Dupuy, Bruce Brewer, and Roger Soyer. The Boston Early Music Festival mounted a production in June 2017. A recording with Hervé Niquet conducting Le Concert Spirituel was released in 2011. Vocalists included Salomé Haller, Marina De Liso, Andrew Foster-Williams, Alain Buet, Mathias Vidal, Sarah Tynan, Blandine Staskiewicz, and Luigi De Donato. Gramophone called it "a performance to brighten up the dullest mood".