Écho et Narcisse

The cover page of a 1779 edition of the opera's score

Echo et Narcisse (Echo and Narcissus) was the last original opera, specifically a drame lyrique, written by Christoph Willibald Gluck, his sixth for the French stage. The libretto was written by Louis Theodor von Tschudi.

Performance history

Echo et Narcisse was first performed at the Paris Opéra on 24 September 1779. It was a failure, discontinued after only 12 performances. Gluck decided to go back to Vienna and never returned to Paris. He revised the work for 8 August 1780, but this version only enjoyed nine performances.

A third version was presented to the public on 8 June 1781. This was better received, however it was infrequently produced until René Jacobs revived it in 1987 at the Schwetzingen Festival. Jacobs used the revised version as the original one has not survived, except for the libretto.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 24 September 1779 (Conductor: - )
Echo, a nymph, ruler of the woods and waters	soprano	Henriette-Adelaïde Beaumesnil
Aglaé, a nymph, friend of Echo	soprano	Adelaïde Gavaudan Joinville
Eglé, a nymph, friend of Echo	soprano	Anne-Marie-Jeanne Gavaudan, 'L'aînée'
Amour (Cupid)	soprano	Mlle Girardin
Narcisse, a hunter, son of Cephisus	tenor	Étienne Lainez
Cynire, friend of Narcisse	tenor	Joseph Legros
Sylphie, a nymph	soprano
Thanais, a nymph	soprano
Sylphs, Zephyrs and attendants and followers of Amour, Echo and Narcisse.

Synopsis

The nymph Echo is loved by Narcisse, but also desired by Apollo. Apollo puts a spell on Narcisse so he falls in love with his own reflection, but Cupid is eventually successful in securing a happy ending by re-uniting Echo and Narcisse.

References

• Amadeus Almanac, accessed 1 February 2010
• Hayes, Jeremy (1992), 'Echo et Narcisse' in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London) ISBN 0-333-73432-7

External links

• Libretto (French)
• Score (for free)