Platée, Io RCT 53 und RCT 45 (Versions 1749 and 1745)

This edition unites all the purely instrumental and dance numbers from one of Rameau’s most popular operas, along with those from his last one-act opéra-ballet “Io”, which was left unfinished at the time of his death.

“Platée” is the setting of a libretto by Jacques Autreau that Rameau arranged to be adapted for his own purposes, especially with regard to comic effects. In grotesque form, it shows Jupiter curing his wife Juno of her jealousy by feigning a marriage of love with the ugly swamp nymph Platée. Faced with such a ludicrous rival, Juno is forced to admit that her suspicions were unfounded.

The opera was premièred in Versailles in 1745 for the wedding of the Dauphin Louis and Maria Theresia of Spain. The performance was a fiasco, however, for the coarse comedy and bizarre characters were deemed inappropriate by the wedding audience. It was not until 1749 in Paris that “Platée” achieved its breakthrough, becoming Rameau’s greatest triumph to date. Another version with an altered text was performed from 1754 on.

The plot of the fragmentary “Io” deals with the amorous relations between the nymph Io and Jupiter in the guise of the shepherd Hylas, who becomes a rival of Apollo, disguised as Philemon. Now the inventive and richly varied orchestral numbers from this cruelly comical bonfire of the vanities can be presented in concert with greater flexibility.