APGRD id
10790
Start date
1781
Production Media
Choreographic work (dance, ballet, mime, dumbshow, performance art etc.)
Languages
- English
- Italian
Associated ancient works
APGRD Notes
This work, described as 'a serious dance', was an afterpiece at performances of the opera Giunio Bruto. The libretto for the opera contains, on the last three pages, a list of Dramatis Personae for the ballet and its synopsis. The ballet begins with Admeto and Alceste celebrating their wedding anniversary in a temple, when the celebratory atmosphere is overshadowed by the oracle that Admeto must die or someone in his stead. From then onwards the story follows the familiar outline. The production seems to have drawn heavily on spectacle, with the oracle spelt out in 'letters of fire' amidst thunder and flashes of lightning, above the altar itself engulfed in fire. Noverre's work for this production was doubtless informed by his contribution to Gluck's opera Alceste in Vienna in 1767 (see Production ID 5912).
URI
https://apgrd.classics.ox.ac.uk/productions/production/10790