Jean-Baptiste Lully, Phaëton (1683)

I know the box styles it "Phaéton," but that's just wrong, as you can see from the original score:

It's a diaeresis, indicating that the "a" and "e" are pronounced as separate sounds.  You kind of look overly pedantic if you use them in English, but they remain part of The New Yorker's style guide.  "Coöperate;" "Deëmphasize."

Here's all I knew about Phaëton before seeing this: son of Apollo who goes to see his dad, who promises him a wish; he demands to be able to drive his dad's chariot.  Dad thinks this is an extremely bad idea but has no choice but to let him, having sworn; kid horribly fucks up and scorches the Earth and then dies.  Seems like a thin plot for an opera!  But clearly, there will be more to it.

We start with a prologue in praise of...hmm, who could it be?  I suppose you do have to give Lully or his regular librettist, Philippe Quinault, credit for being subtle enough not to mention Louis XIV by name in these things, but...hmm.  For a while I thought, jeez, wouldn't he get bored with all this fulsome praise?  But then, I thought of that guy who, you may dimly recall, was our last President: of course, he hates art, but if he DID somehow watch stuff like this, he'd totally be into it.  In fact, he'd get bored and lose interest as soon as the actual story started.  So...yup, I just compared yer Sun King to fuckin' T****.  Come at me.

Okay, right.  Anyway.  So as far as I can tell, a lot of this has no mythological source.  It takes place in Egypt: who is going to marry Libie, the king's daughter, and be the next king?  Well, the king chooses Phaëton, which naturally upsets his lover Théone, as well as Libie and her lover Épaphus.  The latter denigrates him, being all, hey, Jupiter acknowledges me as his son, whereas who says you're really the son of Apollo?  Your mom told you?  Psh, yeah, that's convincing.  So he goes to see Apollo to prove his claim, Apollo foolishly grants him a wish, and so he doesn't end up destroying the whole world, Jupiter kills him.  And that is that.  Presumably Épaphus and Libie can get back together now, so that's nice.  

Phaëton's not exactly a likable character; even beyond the way he eagerly leaves his lover when there's power at stake, he just comes across as whiny and petulant.  I'm not sure if him insisting on driving the chariot even though he knows he'll likely die is meant to me in some way noble, but yeesh.  That's not a criticism of the opera.  It's just interesting; not something you generally see in pieces like this.  Is this a tragedy?  Gotta be, but not one you feel too bad about.

Not a great production, I wouldn't say.  I mean, good enough; it didn't impede my enjoyment, but it's a big jumble of modern and period elements that gives me the impression the producers didn't have any strong controlling idea.  I suppose we must be glad it's available at all, however.

Me?  I liked this pretty well.  Of the Lully I've seen, I'd put it right smack in the middle quality-wise, ahead of Cadmus et Hermione and Atys (though honestly, if I went back and rewatched those, I suspect I'd appreciate them a lot more) but behind Armide and well behind Persée.  We definitely need more Lully on video; I'll readily agree that he's not as good as Rameau, but he's plenty good enough, as well as playing an important role in musical history.