[Opéra Comique]

On an evening of April 1673, in Rue de Vaugirard in Paris, curious spectators discovered the very first French lyrical tragedy in a jeu de paume (an early tennis court) converted into a modest theatre. The libretto of Cadmus and Hermione had been written by a reputed academician, and the score by the brilliant Music Superintendent of the King. Their song-and-dance work has the distinction of court performances and was set to a drama of unprecedented coherence.