The 1737 version of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s opera “Castor et Pollux” overflows with a cornucopia of ideas in both plot and music. The reconstructed opera is now available in the Complete Edition.

“Castor et Pollux” was performed at the Académie royale de musique in October 1737. For this tragédie Rameau enlisted the help of the young writer Gentil-Bernard, who made his first attempts in this genre with this work. He was inspired by an episode in mythology, according to which Leda united with Jupiter and her husband Tyndareos on the same night, thus producing twins:  Pollux, the son of Jupiter, giving him the status of a demi-god, and Castor, the son of Tyndareos, a simple mortal. Starting with this double paternity, Gentil-Bernard wrote a libretto in which at the beginning of the first act, Télaïre, the daughter of the Sun and Castor’s betrothed, mourns his death. She resists Pollux’s advances and invites him to urge Jupiter to restore Castor to life. Pollux goes along with her wish, and after many trials, descends into the underworld in order to take Castor’s place. As a result he provokes the wrath of Phébé, a princess and sorceress who is in love with Pollux. Refusing to accept the sacrifice of his brother, Castor wants to reclaim his place amongst the dead – to the regret of Télaïre. Moved by their love and brotherly solidarity, Jupiter grants immortality not only to Castor, but also to Télaïre. The twins take their place in the zodiac and are united by Télaïre. The libretto shows the influence of Masonic themes, then very much in vogue, such as the transition from darkness to light. The trials which Pollux undergoes and overcomes through temptation (the “Plaisirs” in Act II) or demons (the underworld in the Act III), just like the renunciation of his immortality, reveal his moral virtues and his greatness of soul. In addition, Castor and Pollux symbolise the moon and the sun, two symbols of Freemasons’ lodges.

Premiered on 24 October 1737, the opera and was taken out of the Paris repertoire in December 1737 after 21 performances. The reason for its failure certainly lay partly in the novelty of its music and the fact that the work begins with Castor’s funeral which follows the Prologue. The Lullyists criticised Rameau for “too much learnedness, too little naturalness and too many difficulties in performance”. The composer must have been deeply affected by the resistance to his music, for it was to be another seventeen years before “Castor et Pollux” was revived, and that was in a second, extensively revised version. This version was published in 2023 (OOR, IV/23, BA08864-01).

Unlike most of Rameau’s other dramatic works, there is only a single main source, the score published in 1737. It is incomplete, for in places the choral parts (hautes-contre and tailles) and the violin parts are missing. The manuscript copy used by the batteur de mesure, or conductor, in 1737, and the material produced by the copyists have all been lost, except for a few fragments from the Decroix collection. Thanks to the re-use of some of the music in 1754, it has been possible to restore the missing parts, except for the prologue where several passages have had to be reconstructed. This new critical edition also contains a number of previously unpublished sections from a printed insert which only survives in a few copies, including an unusual vocal version of the Chaconne from Act 5.   

Denis Herlin
(Translation: Elizabeth Robinson – from [t]akte 1/2025)