# Les fêtes vénitiennes

Les festes vénitiennes ("Venetian Festivities"), also spelled Les fêtes vénitiennes, is an opéra-ballet by the French composer André Campra. It consists of a prologue (later sometimes omitted, abridged or replaced) and three entrées (four or five in subsequent versions). All versions of the libretto are by Antoine Danchet. It was first performed on 17 June 1710 by the Académie royale de musique in the Salle du Palais-Royal in Paris. According to the usage of the time, it was originally simply billed as a "ballet", but it is one of the most important and successful instances of the new genre later classified by scholars as opéra-ballet, which had become popular in Paris around the end of the 17th century.

## Performance history

At the beginning of the 18th century, the Paris Opéra public was growing dissatisfied with the traditional "operatic fare consisting of lyric tragedies cast invariably in the mould created by Lully and Quinault", and the innovative nature of the opéra-ballet, with its realistic locations and characters, and its comic plots, was seen as a viable alternative. The format of the new genre was exceedingly flexible: each entrée had its own independent intrigue and characters, and the various acts were loosely linked together by a tenuous thread (in Les festes vénitiennes, the Venice location).
Campra and Danchet's opera proved incredibly popular from the beginning, and, through a trial and error approach, "it perpetuated itself to the point where new entrées were written to replace the acts that seemed to be losing their appeal". Between June and December 1710, Campra and Danchet experimented with a total of two prologues and eight entrées and the opera ran for several dozen performances, reaching its 51st mounting on 14 October when it was restructured in a version with a shortened prologue and four entrées (which were to become five in the following month of December).
After its unprecedented success in 1710-1711, the opera was regularly revived over the next half-century (in 1712, 1713, 1721, 1731-1732, 1740, 1750-1751 and 1759), the different entrées being swapped around at various times, and provided ample opportunity for almost all the major artists who appeared on the stage of the Paris Opéra in this period. Eventually, it chalked up the incredible number of about three hundred performances.

## Roles

| Roles | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 17 June 1710 (Conductor: Louis de La Coste) |
| Prologue: "Le Triomphe de la Folie sur la Raison dans le temps de Carnaval" ("The triumph of Folly over Reason during the Carnival") |||
| Folly | soprano | Marie-Catherine Poussin |
| Reason | soprano | Mlle Desmatins |
| Carnival | bass-baritone | Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard |
| Héraclite | bass-baritone | Charles Hardouin |
| Démocrite | taille (baritenor) | Louis Mantienne |
| First entrée: "La feste des barqueroles" ("The festival of boaters") |||
| A Venice doctor | bass-baritone | Jean Dun 'père' |
| Lilla | soprano | Mlle Dun |
| Damiro | haute-contre (high tenor) | Jacques Cochereau |
| A (female) gondolier, representing Victory | soprano | Mlle Hacqueville (or D'Huqueville) |
| A (male) gondolier | haute-contre | Guesdon |
| Second entrée: "Les sérénades et les joueurs" ("Serenades and players") |||
| Léandre | bass-baritone | Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard |
| Isabelle | soprano | Françoise Journet |
| Lucile | soprano | Mlle Pestel |
| Irène | soprano | Mlle Dun |
| Fortune | soprano | Françoise Dujardin |
| A follower of Fortune | haute-contre | Jean-Baptiste Buseau |
| Third entrée: "Les saltinbanques de la place St Marc ou L'Amour saltinbanque" ("The acrobats of St Mark's Square, or Cupid the acrobat") |||
| Filindo | bass-baritone | Charles Hardouin |
| Eraste | haute-contre | Jacques Cochereau |
| Léonore | soprano | Marie-Catherine Poussin |
| Nérine (travesti) | taille | Louis Mantienne |
| Amour acrobat (travesti) | soprano | Mlle Dun |
| First entrée added at a later date: "La feste marine" ("The marine festival") | First entrée added at a later date: "La feste marine" ("The marine festival") | First performed on 8 July 1710 |
| Astophe | bass-baritone | Jean Dun 'père' |
| Dorante | haute-contre | Jacques Cochereau |
| Cephise | soprano | Françoise Journet |
| Doris | soprano | Mlle Dun |
| A mariner | haute-contre | Guesdon |
| Second entrée added at a later date: "Le bal ou le maître à danser" ("The dance, or the dancing master") | Second entrée added at a later date: "Le bal ou le maître à danser" ("The dance, or the dancing master") | First performed on 8 August 1710 |
| Alamir | bass-baritone | Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard |
| Themir | haute-contre | Jean-Baptiste Buseau |
| Iphise | soprano | Françoise Journet |
| A master of music | taille | Louis Mantienne |
| A master of dance | dancer/taille | François-Robert Marcel |
| A masker | haute-contre | (not stated) |
| Third entrée added at a later date: "Les devins de la Place St Marc" ("The fortune-tellers of St Mark's Square") | Third entrée added at a later date: "Les devins de la Place St Marc" ("The fortune-tellers of St Mark's Square") | First performed on 5 September 1710 |
| Lèandre | bass-baritone | Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard |
| Zélie | soprano | Marie-Catherine Poussin |
| A gipsy woman | soprano | Mlle Dun |
| Fourth entrée added at a later date: "L'Opéra ou le maître à chanter" ("The Opera, or the singing master") | Fourth entrée added at a later date: "L'Opéra ou le maître à chanter" ("The Opera, or the singing master") | First performed on 14 October 1710 |
| Damire (Boreas) | bass-baritone | Charles Hardouin |
| Adolphe/An actor of the Opera performing Zephyr | haute-contre | Jean-Baptiste Buseau |
| Leontine (Flore) | soprano | Françoise Journet |
| Lucie (A shepherdess) | soprano | Mlle Dun |
| The singing master | haute-contre | (not stated) |
| Rodolphe | bass-baritone | Courteil |
| Fifth entrée added at a later date: "Le triomphe de la Folie" ("The triumph of Folly") | Fifth entrée added at a later date: "Le triomphe de la Folie" ("The triumph of Folly") | First performed in December 1710 |
| Harlequin | dancer/taille | François Dumoulin |
| Folly | soprano | Marie-Catherine Poussin |
| A doctor | bass-baritone | Jean Dun 'père' |
| A Spaniard (man) | haute-contre | Jacques Cochereau |
| A Frenchman | bass-baritone | Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard |
| Columbine | soprano | Mlle Dun |
| Another Spaniard (man) | taille | ? |
| A Spanish girl | soprano | ? |