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Alcione (Alcyone)
Lyric tragedy in 5 acts and a prologue
Music by Marin Marais
Libretto by Antoine Houdor de la Motte
First Performance: Académie royale, Paris, February 18, 1706
Cast:
Alcione Dessus
Ceix Haute contre
Pelée Basse Taille
Pan, Phorbos Bass
Timole, High Priest, Neptune Bass
Apollon, Sleep Haute contre
Ismène, Sailor-girl Dessus
Shepherd, Actress, Sailor-girl, Priestess Dessus
Céphise, Actress Dessus
An actor Haute contre
Leader of the Sailors Basse Taille
Phosphore Haute contre
Chorus: SATB
Ballet: No organized ballet, but plenty of opportunities.
Background
Synopsis
Prologue: The
Rivers and Naiads are discovered resting on their urns and forming a
waterfall down the side of a mountain. In their midst stands Timolus, the
son of Mars, who announces that Apollo and Pan are soon to meet in battle.
Apollo will champion the cause of Peace and triumph over Pan, who
glorifies in War, an allusion to the War of the Spanish Succession which
had broken out in 1701: the future "victor", Louis XIV, will
take up arms only to ensure a new era of universal peace propitious to
Love. It is a hope that the god of the arts expresses once again, when he
compares the calm that he wishes to see on earth with the calm that the
Alcyonids could reestablish over the sea if they quelled the fury of the
waves.
Act I: A magnificent room in the palace of
King Ceys of Trachis. Preparations are underway to celebrate his wedding
with Alcione, the daughter of Aeolus. The couple are in love by a friend
of Ceys's. Peleus, is also enamored of his friend's future wife. Although
reluctant to destroy the happiness of the man who saved his life, he finds
it hard to conceal his suffering. The sorcerer Phorbas, whose ancestors
had once ruled over Trachis, takes advantage of the situation, to disrupt
the wedding ceremony, which is celebrated by the High Priest of Hymen and
his retinue: the Furies ascend from Hades, seize the torches from the
hands of the priests and set the palace on fire.
Act II: The curtain rises on a scene of
terrible desolation at the entrance to the cave where Phorbas works his
evil spells. In his despair Ceys arrives in search of the sorcerer to
entreat both him and Ismene, who is endowed with similar powers, to
consult with Hades and ease the rigours of his fate. Having refused to
give up Alcione, he is made to witness a terrible ceremony in which he
finds himself transported to Pluto's underworld palace. Mystically
inspired, Phorbas announces that he will lose the woman he loves and he
himself will perish unless he repairs to Claros to consult with Apollo
himself. It is advice, however, intended to hasten the ills that Ceys
seeks to avoid.
Act III: The port of Trachis. The vessel
that is to take Ceys to Claros is ready to set sail. Sailors arrive to
accompany their king on his journey, providing the pretext for a
picturesque divertissement. Phorbas tells Peleus that he has removed his
rival from the scene to improve his chances of winning Alcione's heart.
But Peleus cannot be too happy and guilty and he suffers even more when,
following Ceys's departure, he sees the woman he loves fall to the ground
in a faint.
Act IV: Disconsolate at being separated from
her "dear husband", Alcione offers up a sacrifice in the Temple
of Juno in the hope of obtaining heaven's assistance. In the course of a
cermony conducted by the Temple Priestess and her retinue, she succumbs to
the charms of Sleep who, in consort with the allegorical figures of
Dreams, conjures up a vision in which she sees a vessel foundering in a
storm-wracked sea. From among the sailors, Morpheus appears in the shape
of Ceys and addresses a moving appeal to her.
Act V: The gardens of Ceys overlooking the
sea. Alcione longs for death. Peleus enters, confesses his love and, still
assailed by remorse, demands that she kill him. She seizes his sword but,
instead of running him through with it, attempts to turn it on herself.
Happily, her servant Cephisa disarms her and Ceys's father, Eosphorus,
announces his son's return. The shadow world of night give way to day and
the man whom Alcione thought was lost forever reappears on the grass,
apparently lifeless. Believing him dead, she impales herself on Ceys's
sword but Neptune rises out of the billows with all his court and restores
the lovers to life, entrusting them with the task of calming the waves.
The sea-gods celebrate their apotheosis in a final disvertissement.
Libretto
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Last updated: January 08, 2008