page_title: Vénus et Adonis
section_title: Roles
hierarchical_section_title: Vénus et Adonis / Roles
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of French opera singer Marthe Le Rochois (1658-1728)
context_page_description: Vénus et Adonis is an opera in a prologue and 5 acts composed by Henri Desmarets to a libretto by Jean-Baptiste Rousseau. Based on the story of Venus and Adonis in Book X of Ovid's Metamorphoses, it was first performed by the Académie Royale de Musique at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris on 28 July 1697 with Marie Le Rochois and Louis Gaulard Dumesny in the title roles. Desmarets staged a major revival of the work with a new prologue at the court of Leopold, Duke of Lorraine in 1707. During the composer's lifetime, it was performed in Germany, Belgium, and France, but then fell into obscurity. Its first staging in modern times took place at the Opéra de Nancy on 28 April 2006.
context_section_description: Prologue (original Paris Version)
  Mélicerte, a nymph
  Partenope, a nymph
  Palémon, a shepherd
  Diana
  Opera
  Adonis (haute-contre) – created by Louis Gaulard Dumesny
  Venus (soprano) – created by Marie Le Rochois
  Cidippe, a princess of Cyprus (soprano) – created by Marie-Louise Desmatins
  Mars (bass) – created by Charles Hardouin
  Bellona
  Jealousy
  A follower of Mars
  An inhabitant of Cyprus
caption: Marie Le Rochois, Venus in the opera's 1697 premiere
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