Suites from Alceste

• Alceste LWV 50 is an opera, or tragédie en musique which premiered in 1674 at the Palais Royal theatre in Paris.¹
• Alceste was based on Euripides’ play Alcestis.
• Alceste was a theatrical spectacle, full of dances, a sea battle scene, and a dramatically depicted trip to the underworld.
• Story: Alceste sacrifices herself in order to save her fiance Admetus, and Hercules, her unrequited lover, travels to the underworld to retrieve her.²

ENCO Cut # 46214: Alceste: Suite No. 1

ENCO Cut # 46215: Alceste: Suite No. 2

These suites are collected tracks from the instrumental music in Lully’s Alceste. You can find an individual track list here.

1. Jérôme de La Gorce, “Lully, Jean-Baptiste (i),” Grove Music Online, accessed November 12, 2019,  https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-6002278219.
2. Lois Rosow, “Alceste (i),” Grove Music Online (2002), accessed November 12, 2019,  https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-5000900072.