Alceste, ou, Le triomphe d'Alcide
Subtitle: tragedie : representée par l'Academie royale de musique
Publisher: A l'entrée de la porte de l'Academie royale de musique au Palais royal; Imprimée aux despens de ladite Academie, par René Baudry, imprimeur
Published: 1675
Place of publication: On la vend a Paris; Paris
Language: fre
Number of pages: 76
Subjects: Operas; Librettos; Specimens
Other titles: Triomphe d'Alcide
Work titles: Alceste
Notes: Libretto for a tragic opera in 5 acts with prologue; text (verse) by P. Quinault after Euripides's Alcestis and music by J.B. Lully; first performed at the Opéra de Paris on 18? January 1674 (sources differ regarding which day). Cf. Grove music online.

First opera performed by Lully's company, the Opéra de Paris, in the Théâtre du Palais Royal, after Molière's death. Cf. Léris, A. de. Dictionnaire portatif historique et littéraire des théatres.

Signatures: pi⁴ A-I⁴ K².

Added engraved title page: p. [1]-[2] (1st group).

Title vignette (French royal arms).

Text only, without the music.

"Acteurs du prologue": p. [6] (1st group); "Acteurs de la tragedie": p. [7] (1st group), all without named cast.

"Permission pour tenir Academie royale de musique, en faveur du sieur Lully": p. 72-76.

Schmidt, C.B. Livrets of Jean-Baptiste Lully's tragédies lyriques, LLC2-4.1675

From the collection of John Milton and Ruth Neils Ward.

Imperfect: engraved t.p. and p. 73-76 wanting.

Bookseller's (?) monogram stamp DD (?) on title page.

Later quarter vellum and tan paste paper boards; gilt red leather label on spine.