There is a wealth of source material for Lully’s “Psyché” of 1678. The new critical edition in the Complete Edition sheds light on this, revealing a fascinating work.

Amongst Lully’s operas, the tragédie “Psyché” holds a special position because of the conditions surrounding its genesis, its position within the genre and its reception. It is the only opera whose subject was not stipulated by Louis XIV and which was therefore never performed at court. The libretto was by Thomas Corneille, who transformed Molière and Lully’s 1671 tragédie-ballet of the same title into a tragedy with recitatives. The premiere took place on 19 April 1678, after Easter, in the Académie royale de musique in Paris. The five-act work with prologue remained in the repertoire until August and was then replaced by the revival of “Atys”.

For the critical edition of the libretto and full score, 32 manuscript orchestral scores were examined, including the surviving copy from Lully’s private library, held in the Berlin Liedertafel collection, as the primary source, a score which is certainly not free of errors. Such a large number of copyist’s scores is characteristic for Lully, but in the case of Psyché it can also be attributed to the fact that only in 1720 did an altered score appear due to later performance practice. In view of the numerous manuscript scores it is hardly surprising that so many variants of different kinds – of rhythm, notes, metre, the designation of the instrumental movements, the type of repeat, etc. – exist, all of which are documented in the critical apparatus and some of which can be adopted in performance.

Lully incorporated the complete music of “Psyché” of 1671. The sequence of dances and their placement between the sung parts varies according to each source. The five versions of the doubles of “Rispondete a miei lamenti”, the famous lament scene in Italian, published for the first time, are evidence of a lively improvising practice. The text underlay and the two doubles of “Ce n’est plus le temps de la guerre” and “Est-on sage/Dans le bel âge” from the prologue come from the tragédie-ballet which Lully had introduced and which presumably came from his father-in-law Michel Lambert.

The newly-composed pieces for the tragedy include the introductory chorus “Pleurons en de si grands malheurs” for the lament scene, which is added to the exquisite choruses from 1671, part of the second act, the whole of the third act, and the three terzettos of the Furies for male voices in the fourth act, scenes of the horror and suffering of Psyché, which are essential elements for the genre of tragédie en musique. The nymphs of Acheron, who initially admire the constancy of Psyché and Amor’s love, chase away the Furies; they are not insignificant figures, as can be read.

Lully added six further very extensive numbers, as well as nine three-part ones to the nineteen five-part instrumental movements of 1671, characteristic elements of French opera of the 17th and 18th centuries, full of dramatic and psychological intensity.  The achievements of the “Psyché” of 1678 include a wide variety of differently-structured monologues as well as expressive recitatives with richly varied harmonies.
In the second act Lully demonstrates his richness of invention. With the dialogue between the dancing blacksmiths and Vulcain cheering them on in their work, Lully introduced a musico-dramatic innovation, in which the alternating of chorus or ensemble and soloist were replaced by dance and solo singing. The second achievement is found in the “hidden symphony” in whose dialogue of trios of violins and flutes a special sound effect is created. Amor, the Nymphs and Zephire sing to this accompaniment, but are not visible. The special feature of Amor’s role lies in the alternation between the page (soprano) and the man (haute-contre).

With his “Psyché” of 1678, Lully succeeded in creating an opera of the same high quality as his great masterpieces. The score, the harpsichord score and the performance material of both versions are available as critical editions.

Herbert Schneider
(from [t]akte 2/2025)
(translation. Elizabeth Robinson)