Alcide – The Triumph of Hercules

To mark its tenth anniversary, the ensemble a nocte temporis returns to the repertoire in which it excels, reviving the rarely performed opera 'Alcide' by Marin Marais and Louis Lully. For the young Marin Marais, whom we chiefly know as a virtuoso of the viola da gamba and a composer of sublime chamber music, it was his operatic debut. He collaborated with Louis Lully, the eldest son of Jean-Baptiste Lully, the Italian who, as court composer to Louis XIV, invented and elevated the genre of tragédie lyrique to great heights. 

The gripping libretto tells the story of Alcide’s (Hercules) unrequited, illicit love for Iole, who in turn is in love with Alcide’s friend Philoctète. This provides ample opportunity to showcase all the strengths of French baroque opera: from vocal drama, to brilliantly orchestrated orchestral passages and elegant dances. With a nocte temporis, the Choeur de Chambre de Namur and an array of splendid soloists, it promises to be a truly colourful French baroque evening.