Premiered in Paris in 1662 to celebrate the marriage of Louis XIV to Maria Theresa of Austria, *Ercole amante* was one of the most lavish productions of the 17th century. Commissioned by Cardinal Mazarin from Francesco Cavalli, then the undisputed master of Venetian opera, the work was conceived as a veritable machine of prestige, blending theater, music, dance, and visual splendor on an unprecedented scale. The young Louis XIV himself took part in the dance interludes, already foreshadowing the aesthetic of the Sun King’s court.

But behind the pomp, Ercole amante above all unfolds a striking dramatic force. Through the figure of Hercules, a hero torn between power, desire, and downfall, Cavalli composes an opera of extreme passions, where mythological grandeur is tinged with profound humanity. The musical writing, by turns flamboyant, sensual, and deeply moving, reveals the full expressive richness of a lyric art still in its infancy, yet already of rare intensity.

A key figure in the rediscovery of Cavalli, Leonardo García-Alarcón revisits here a composer whom he has played a major role in bringing back to the forefront, following Elena, Il Giasone, and Eliogabalo. At the helm of Cappella Mediterranea, the ensemble in residence at La Cité Bleue, and the combined forces of the Namur Chamber Choir and the Dijon Opera Choir, he has assembled a cast of first-rate performers to bring this monumental epic to life.

Spectacular, refined, and deeply moving, Ercole amante plunges us into the heart of opera’s golden age, where music does not merely accompany passions: it sets them ablaze.

Ercole amante, opera in a prologue and five acts
Music by Francesco Cavalli (1602–1676)
Libretto by Francesco Buti (1604–1682)
Premiered on February 7, 1662, in Paris in the Salle des Machines of the Tuileries Palace