Pygmalion holds a very special place in the history of music: it is in fact the first ballet act to be performed at the Opera on August 27, 1748, thus paving the way for the emancipation of a new genre. specifically French. Such a show was popular with the public in the mid-18th century: the genre was popular and the successful pieces combined with each other could form a new composite-type program. The form is short, mixing song and dance around a very refined narrative framework.
The plot resurrects the myth of Pygmalion, then rarely set to music. The sculptor falls in love with his statue, which comes alive while dancing.
Baron Grimm is full of praise: “What regularity in the design, what harmony in the symphony, what simplicity, what knowledge in the basso continuo, what nobility in its march, what expression in the song, how touching and TRUE ! » ( Letter on Omphale ).
“These two works by Royer and Rameau, great French composers during the reign of Louis XV, are the high points of the ballet act genre. Dance is, traditionally in music, the privileged moment where composers express in a striking way their genius for harmony and orchestration. This is what these two masters did, in remarkable but very different ways. In both cases we are in France in 1748 but each of the works testifies to an extremely strong identity, a little orientalist fantasy with Almasis and the metamorphosis of Ovid with Pygmalion , we are caught in this incredible magic of seeing a statue come to life in the sound of totally enchanting music. »
– Christophe Rousset
