Document Actions
Atys 2nd edition, 1709
Digital Versions: Hi-res JPEG
Background
Atys, which premiered on 10 January 1676, is the first of the tragédies lyriques of Jean-Baptiste Lully and Philippe Quinault to have a tragic ending. This letter, written by an eyewitness at the opening night, captures some of the spirit of that evening:
Oh! Fate too harsh! Injustice! There is no road so well-known to human beings as that of their death: the supreme liberty of the wretched slave, the end of all too human follies; the ultimate refuge from Kings who make of man their playthings; poor victory of beauty over unworthy power. Let us overthrow these Kings at last!… but… what am I saying? Will their power be affected?
The oblique reference to men as the pawns of kings refers to the recent death of Henri de la Tour, a prominent military leader in Louis XIV's army. As the Prologue indicates, the tragedie itself is a divertissement to ease the king's mind of his impending duties.
Joyce Newman, in Jean-Baptiste de Lully and his Tragédie Lyriques, summarizes the message of the story in this way:
In [Atys], Quinault shows how actions which are not in accord with the noble ideal will bring defeat and punishment. Not only is love in opposition to glory in this opera, but also it is shown that if love is place more highly than honor, it will bring unhappiness even to one of the immortals.[1]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Joyce Newman, Jean-Baptiste de Lully and his Tragédie Lyriques (Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1979), 130.
Plot
The Prologue takes place in the palace of Time, who first appears surrounded by the Hours. Time announces a plan to honor great heroes, especially Louis XIV. Flora, the goddess of Springtime, enters surrounded by her nymphs to complain that she cannot give proper homage to this greatest of all heroes because he is always away on military campaigns. Melpomene, the muse of tragic poetry, enters surrounded by an entourage of Heroes. Melpomene scolds Flore for wasting time in frivolity, suggesting that the tragic history of Atys and the Goddess Cybele is a more appropriate entertainment to amuse the new hero. Iris, Cybele's messenger, enters to reconcile Melpomene and Flore, explaining that the story of Atys embraces both love and heroism.
Act I takes place at Dawn on a mountain consecrated to the goddess Cybele. Atys and Idas awaken the sleeping Phrygians, urging them to ready themselves for Cybele's arrival. Cybele has promised to appear at the wedding of the nymph Sangaride and Celoenus, king of Phrygia. Sangaride, however, loves Atys, who takes pride in his control over his feelings and does not return her love. As she despairs, however, Atys joins her and reveals that her impending marriage has shown him that he does indeed love her--a love he had thought himself unable to feel--in a moving aria ("Je vous aime"). Their mutual protestations of love are interrupted by the Phrygians preparing for the arrival of Cybele and the wedding celebration. Cybele appears and announces that she is ready to choose her new high priest.
Act II begins with Atys and King Celoenus in the Temple of Cybele. They speculate on whom Cybele may choose for her high priest, Atys assuring the King that he is the most likely choice. Celoenus brings up the subject of Sangaride, revealing that he has discovered that Atys is his rival for her affections. Atys denies his love for Sangaride. To everyone's surprise, Cybele chooses Atys for her high priest. Celoenus gracefully accepts her choice, announcing that his marriage with Sangaride will soothe his feelings. In a private conversation with her confidante, Melisse, Cybele admits that she has chosen Atys because of her passionate love for him. Atys, unaware of her motives, basks in the glory of his new position.
Act III finds Atys alone in the palace of Cybele's high priest. Despite the benefits of his new position, he yearns for Sangaride. Idas and Doris, brother and sister and friends of Atys and Sangaride, enter to tell him how Sangaride is suffering as her marriage approaches. Left alone, Atys agonizes over the choice between love and honor. He falls into a deep sleep. The scene changes to the palace of the god of sleep, who presides over a series of dreams sent to Atys. This is Cybele's enchantment as she plans to reveal her love for him. Morpheus, Phobetor, and Phantasmus (all emissaries of sleep) tell of the joys of love in an enchanting trio ("Mais souviens-toy que la beauté"). Atys is awakened by the dances of bad dreams that warn him of deceiving the gods. Cybele, at his side, reassures and caresses him, though he is still unsure of her intent. Sangaride interrupts and pleads to be released from her marriage to the king. Atys, still confused, intercedes on her behalf and Cybele becomes aware of his love for Sangaride. Cybele ends the act with a moving lament ("Espoir, si cher et si doux").
Act IV takes place in the palace of the River Sangar, father of Sangaride. Sangaride, wrongly interpreting Atys' confused actions as those of one newly in love, tells Celoenus she has resigned herself to their marriage. As Celoenus exits, Atys enters, insisting that he does not love Cybele. Sangaride apologizes for doubting him, and the two swear undying love. Atys, using the authority of his position as high priest, decides to ask the River Sangar, father of his beloved, to dissolve the marriage of Sangaride and Celoenus.
Act V begins in a beautiful garden, where the two rejected lovers, Celoenus and Cybele, meet. Celoenus hears from Cybele for the first time that Sangaride is leaving him for Atys. The two agree on a terrible punishment for the lovers. Atys is fooled into believing that Sangaride is a monster whom he must kill. He does so and when his reason returns, tries to kill himself in horror. Cybele prohibits him. Instead, she transforms him into a pine tree that she will forever love.
Bibliography
Title from title page: ATYS / TRAGEDIE / MISE EN MUSIQUE
Genre: tragédie lyrique (Tragédie en musique)
Siglum from Lully thematic catalog: LWV 53
Composer: Jean-Baptiste Lully, 1632-1687
Librettist: Philippe Quinault, 1635-1688
Libretto based on: Ovid's Fasti
Setting: Ancient Phrygia
Premiere: St. Germain-en-Laye, court, January 10, 1676
First published: Paris: Christophe Ballard, 1689
Volume in the UNT Lully Collection: 2nd edition, Paris: de Baussen, 1709
For further reading on Atys, see:
Avant-scène opéra 94: Lully, Atys (1987).
Browne, Marilyn K. "Opera and the Galant Homme: Quinault and Lully's Tragédie en musique, Atys, in the Context of Seventeenth-century Modernism." MM thesis, University of North Texas, 1994.
Coeyman, Barbara. "Lully's and Christie's Atys." Historical Performance: The Journal of Early Music America 2 (1989): 73-78.
Henze-Dohring, Sabine. "Das verdichtete Bild": Traumvisionen in der Musik. In Traditionen-Neuansatze: Für Amalie Abert (1906-1996). Tutzing: Schneider, 1997. 315-327.
McKenna, Ilene. "Atys: Le petit drole qui faisait la Furie et la Nourrice." MM thesis, University of London, King's College, 1989.
Newman, Joyce. Jean-Baptiste Lully and his Tragédies Lyriques. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1979.
Rosow, Joyce. "Atys (i)." In Grove Music Online. Edited by Laura Macy. Accessed 21 April 2005. <http://www.grovemusic.com>
See the Lully bibliography for suggested reading.
Physicals
Reduced score: 2°: ² A-3L². P2, [1]-225. 38 x 26 ¼ cm.
M1500 .L95 A8 1709
Condition: This engraved second edition of Atys is presently bound in a contemporary full sprinkled-calf binding with a gilt coat of arms stamped on the covers matching the gilt cross motif in the panels of the jointed spine. A red morocco paste-on label indicates the title. The colorful marbled endpapers are still glued to the flysheets, although the covers are coming loose from the spine. A short performance history of Atys up to 1753 is written on the title page (see full-text PDF file). Some foxing and discoloration, stains.
Provenance: A handwritten note on the inside loose flysheet refers to "armes de Lenoncourt," apparently referring to the coat of arms on the cover. A bookplate for Paul Berthier is pasted to the front paste-down endpaper. The accession number "G-26" is written in pencil at the bottom of the title page.
Comparison of the two de Baussen volumes
A comparison of the two second edition reduced scores of Atys, both engraved by Henri de Baussen (the title pages of both volumes include the phrase "Gravés par H. de Baussen", and the phrase "De Baussen sculpsit" appears on p. 225--the last page--of both scores), allows an interesting study of both the limitations and the flexibility of engraving as compared to movable type.
Both scores were printed on coarse, heavy paper, and show the unmistakable imprint of the engraving plate around the printed material. Both also appear to have been copied from the same exemplar. A page-by-page comparison shows that, although the two were clearly printed from different plates, the amount of musical material on each page is almost identical, within a few notes either way. The music notation in both consists of the traditional symmetrical diamond-headed notes. Neither volume has any pagination errors--probably because in each case the entire book was engraved by a single individual, unlike the volumes produced with movable type which were commonly assigned to several compositors working in relative independence.
Why de Baussen would have produced two such similar editions just one year apart is unclear; however, it may have to do with two revivals of Atys in Paris in November of 1708 and 1709. As with the printed first editions, the word "tournez" ("turn") at the foot of pages where a rapid page turn is needed to keep up with a live performance supports that association.
In other ways, the two are strikingly dissimilar. The 1708 edition seems intended to imitate the look of a professional manuscript, and in some ways bears more resemblance to the Isis manuscript in the Lully collection than to the printed editions. Like the Isis manuscript, the 1708 Atys is unsigned. Act and scene headings are indicated in elaborate calligraphy that provides the only visual embellishment. The G and F clefs are rounded, slender and irregular, unlike the blocky, angular, old-fashioned clefs in the Ballard editions.
The 1709 edition, on the other hand, seems designed to mimic a volume produced with movable type. The folios are signed. The Prologue and each act are introduced by engraved scenes illustrating the action at the opening curtain. Act and scene headings are rendered in square, upright letters resembling a printer's display type of the time. The C and G clefs imitate those found in the Ballard printed editions. At the same time, the continuous lines of the staves, the neatness and clarity of the musical notation, and the elaborate scenes obviously created specifically for this edition show the superiority of the engraving process.