Bacchus, Ceres en Venus is a 1686 Dutch-language pastoral opera by Johan Schenck around the theme – "without Ceres and Bacchus, Venus remains cold", a theme popular with many Dutch painters of the time.
It is one of the earliest surviving Dutch-language operas, 8 years after with Carolus Hacquart's De triomfeerende Min (1678).John Warrack. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera (1996) p. 234: "De triomfeerende Min (1678, to celebrate the Peace of Nijmegen), by Carolus Hacquart (c.1640–?1701), is often claimed as the first Dutch opera but is really a pastoral play with music. Attempts at Dutch opera were made by (1657–1714) and Servaes de Konink (1653/54–c.1701), especially in the latter's De vnjadje van Cloris en Roosje (1688, lost)."Oud Holland 2002, vol. 115, iss. 1–2, p. 64: "Veel verwante onderwerpen, bij- voorbeeld enkele goden, eventueel met gezelschap, zoals Diana met haar nimfen, of niet-verhalende groeperingen zoals die van Bacchus, Ceres en Venus, zijn dus niet behandeld. Of dat jammer is, valt ..." The libretto was by Govert Bidloo an Amsterdam physician and poet.Sven Dupré, Christoph Lüthy. Silent Messengers: The Circulation of Material Objects of Knowledge in the Early Modern Low Countries. Münster: LIT (2011) p. 191: "He published a Dutch translation of Pierre Corneille's Pompée in 1684, ridiculed the Nil [volentibus arduum] in 1685 in a satirical pamphlet and wrote the libretto for Ceres, Venus and Bacchus, the first Dutch opera in 1686. His monumental Anatomia humani corporis ..."Quaerendo (1973) vols. 3–4, p. 91: "J. Schenk, Enige gezangen uit de opera van Bacchus, Ceres en Venus (text: G. Bidloo; 1687, for the composer) 21. J. Schenk, Hooglied (text: M. Gargon) (1697) G. Song-books with arrangements for two voices: 22. J. Butler, Stichtelycke ... A large number of selections from the opera were published as Schenk's Op. 1 in 1687Jolande van der Klis. The Essential Guide to Dutch Music: 100 Composers and Their Work (2000) "Op. 1 (1687) comprises a collection of songs based on the score of the opera Bacchus, Ceres en Venus, which was set to a libretto by Govert Bidloo, an Amsterdam regent, physician and poet. The two other volumes containing vocal music are ... enabling a reconstruction as the basis for a recording by Camerata Trajectina in 2006."Schenck: Bacchus, Ceres en Venus", Camerata Trajectina, , Globe Records GLO6060 – via prestomusic.com"Johan Schenck – Bacchus, Ceres en Venus", background (in Dutch), "Photos", booklet (in Dutch and English, Camerata Trajectina
The opera had its (rather late) premiere at the Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht in 2011. The production was directed by Marc Krone and featured Bernard Loonen as Mercurius, Hieke Meppelink as Cerus, Jasper Schweppe as Bacchus, and Renate Arends as Venus.
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