Persée (Perseus) is an opera by the French composer François-André Danican Philidor first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique, Paris (the Paris Opera) on 27 October 1780. It takes the form of a tragédie lyrique in three acts. The text is a reworking, by Jean-François Marmontel, of a libretto by Philippe Quinault, originally set by Jean-Baptiste Lully in 1682. Philidor's version was not a success.
Roles RoleVoice typePremiere castCéphée (Cepheus), King of Ethiopiabasse-taille (bass-baritone)MoreauCassiope (Cassiopeia), wife of CéphéesopranoFrançoise-Claude-Marie-Rosalie Campagne (called Mlle Duplant)Andromède (Andromeda), daughter of Céphée and CassiopesopranoRosalie LevasseurPersée (Perseus), son of Jupiterhaute-contreJoseph LegrosPhinée, prince of Ethiopiabass-baritoneHenri LarrivéeMercure (the god Mercury)tenorÉtienne LainezMéduse Medusa, a GorgonsopranoMlle Duranci (also spelled Durancy)Stage name of Madeleine-Céleste Fieuzal (or Fieusacq) de FrossacEuryale, a Gorgon (travesti)haute-contreSources traditionally report only the initial letter (J.) of this singer's name; full details, however, can be found in "Organico dei fratelli a talento della Loggia parigina di Saint-Jean d'Écosse du Contrat Social (1773-89)" (list of the members of this Masonic lodge), reported as an Appendix in Zeffiro Ciuffoletti and Sergio Moravia (eds), La Massoneria. La storia, gli uomini, le idee, Milan, Mondadori, 2004, .Stenone, a Gorgon (travesti)?PerréOrcas, an Ethiopianbass-baritoneAuguste-Athanase (Augustin) ChéronProténor, an Ethiopiantaille (bari-tenor)François Laïs (or Lays)Un cyclope (a cyclops)bass-baritoneDurandA Triton?PerréVénus (the goddess Venus)sopranoChâteauvieuxUne nymphe guerrière (a warrior nymph)sopranoSuzanne Joinville Plot
Notes
Sources Félix Clément and Pierre Larousse Dictionnaire des Opéras, p.525. Original libretto on Gallica BNF
See also List of operas based on the Andromeda myth