Antonio Salieri: Ouverture to Les Danaïdes

Antonio Salieri composed three French operas for France. Les Danaïdes, the first one, became one of the most famous operas in Paris during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It was praised by numerous individuals, including Hector Berlioz, who mentioned that this was one of the musical works that made him abandon medicine in favour of music. This French tragédie lyirique premiered at the Académie Royale de Musique (Paris Opéra) in 1784 to instant success. Its violent libretto, based on the Greek myth of Danaus and his daughters (Les Danaides), tells the story of Hypermnestre, the only Danaid who refuses to murder her husband after her father orders his daughters to do so to avenge himself on his brother, whose sons are the doomed grooms of the Danaids. The opera explores the emotional and psychological struggle Hypermnestre experiences as she confronts the dilemma of either saving her husband or her father, in a manner that anticipates the soprano-dominated Romantic operas of the 19th century. Excellent theatrical effects complement the action of the opera, with a finale depicting the destruction of a palace and a fiery descent to Hell. The ouverture is performed by the Italian Radio Symphony Orchestra Rome under the direction of Gianluigi Gelmetti. Watch an excellent concert performance of the opera from the Royal Opera of Versailles, with Christophe Rousset directing Les Talens Lyrique: Here is an interesting article about the early Parisian productions of the opera, as described by one of the cellists of the Paris Opéra orchestra of the 1780s, who provides important insights into the theatrical effects that made those early productions unforgettable: ïdes_as_Seen_by_a_Cellist_in_the_Orchestra