Dilettante Music

In the hybrid opéra-ballet of the eighteenth century French court, dance predominated, and there was no dramatic plot unifying the whole. An opéra-ballet consisted of a prologue and three or four independent entrées, each with its own plot and programme. They were unrelated to one another, except perhaps by a general theme, and usually contained a good deal of spectacle. Campra was the first major composer in the genre; his were diverting entertainments, sometimes with lighthearted mythological themes.

Les Fêtes d'Hébé did not have a single librettist; a group of writers from the circle of La Pouplinière, Rameau's influential financier employer, put together this pastiche for Rameau. The libretto was considered so bad that no single author would take credit for it, and Rameau is said to have boasted that he could set the Gazette de France if he wanted to. When the work had its premiere in 1739, the libretto elicited such criticism that Rameau hired the Abbé Pellegrin, a known author, to help him revise it. As a theatrical piece, it was an instant success, and was revived several times for a total of over 200 performances.

The music contains much sensuous and rich scoring. Several of the pieces used were taken from earlier works by Rameau for the harpsichord and adapted to the orchestra. In particular, the second entrée contains an arrangement of L'entretien des Muses, from a harpsichord collection of 1724. The third likewise contains a piece from the same collection.

~ All Music Guide