Armide (1686) is a "Tragédie en musique" also known as "tragédie lyrique", a form invented by Lully and the librettist Philippe Quinault. Operas in this genre are usually based on stories from Classical mythology or the Italian romantic epics of Tasso and Ariosto. The stories may not have a tragic ending – in fact, they generally don't – but the atmosphere must be noble and elevated. During the lifetime of Louis XIV, these generally celebrated the king's noble qualities and his prowess in war.
Armide is based on Torquato Tasso's poem La Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem Delivered).
During the First Crusade, Armide ensnares her enemy the Christian knight Renaud with her magic spells. At the moment she raises her dagger to kill him, she finds herself falling in love with him. She casts a spell to make him love her in return. Upon returning to her castle, she cannot bear that Renaud's love is only the work of enchantment. She calls on the Goddess of Hate to restore her hatred for Renaud, but fails to escape from her feelings of love for him. The Goddess condemns Armide to eternal love. Before Armide can return to Renaud, two of his fellow soldiers reach Renaud and break Armide's spell. Renaud manages to escape from Armide, who is left enraged, despairing, and hopeless.
Critics in the 18th century regarded Armide as Lully's masterpiece. It continues to be well-regarded, featuring some of the best-known music in French baroque opera and being arguably ahead of its time in its psychological interest. Unlike most of his operas, Armide concentrates on the sustained psychological development of a character — not Renaud, who spends most of the opera under Armide's spell, but Armide, who repeatedly tries without success to choose vengeance over love.
Armide (1686)
Ouverture (2:16)
"Enfin, il est en ma puissance" "Finally, it is in my power" & Passacaille (instrumental) (5:00)
"Venez, venez haines implacables" "Come, come implacable hates" (5:00)
"Les plaisirs ont choisi pour asile..." "Pleasures have chosen for asylum" (w/ ballet) (6:30)
The passacaille come from Spain where it was strummed on guitar in interludes between dance or song movements. The Italians first orchestrated and it stayed, with variations, in classical music for several centuries. One of the best known examples of the passacaglia in Western classical music is the Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582, for organ by Johann Sebastian Bach. The French clavecinists, especially Louis Couperin and his nephew François Couperin, used a variant of the form—the passecaille en rondeau—with a recurring episode between the variations.
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