Pénélope is a French-language opera by the composer Niccolò Piccinni, first performed at Fontainebleau on 2 November 1785 in the presence of King Louis XVI and his queen Marie-Antoinette. It takes the form of a tragédie lyrique in three acts. The libretto, by Jean-François Marmontel, is based on the story of Odysseus (Ulysses) and Penelope in Homer's Odyssey. The opera transferred to the Académie Royale de Musique, Paris (the Paris Opera) on 6 December 1785, but it was not a success.
Roles CastVoice typePremierePénélopesopranoAntoinette Saint-HubertyThéonesopranoMarie-Thérèse Davoux MaillardTélémaque (Telemachus)tenorÉtienne LainezUlisse (Ulysses)basse taille (bass-baritone)Henri LarrivéeLaèrte (Laertes)baritoneLouis-Claude-Armand Chardin ("Chardiny")Eumée (Eumaeus)haute-contreSources traditionally report only the initial letter (J.) of this singer's name; full details, however, can be found in "Organico dei fratelli a talento della Loggia parigina di Saint-Jean d'Écosse du Contrat Social (1773-89)" (list of the members of this Masonic lodge), reported as an Appendix in Zeffiro Ciuffoletti and Sergio Moravia (eds), La Massoneria. La storia, gli uomini, le idee, Milan, Mondadori, 2004, .Nésusbass-baritoneMoreauMinerve (the goddess Minerva)sopranoMlle ChâteauvieuxUne coryphéesopranoMlle BuretChorus: Eight suitors of Penelope, people
Notes
Sources Félix Clément and Pierre Larousse Dictionnaire des Opéras, p.523 Original libretto at BNF Gallica