Zemire et Azor, Comédie Ballet, en Vers et en Quatre Acts

A Paris: J. Dezauche. [1772?]. First Edition. Zemire et Azor: comédie-ballet en vers et en quatre actes, représentée devant Sa Majesté à Fontainebleau le 9 novembre 1771, & sur le théatre de la Comédie italienne le lundi 16 décembre 1771.  Dédiée à Madame La Comtesse du Barry par M. Gretry, pensionnaire du Roi et de l'Académie des Philharmoniques de Boulogne.  Bound upright folio. Engraved throughout, no PN. Title, dedication page, 216 pages of music. Contemporary vellum ruled in blind. 13.25 x 10 inches (33.5 x 25.5 cm). Front inner joint split; crease to upper board; occasional paper imperfections and small tears; foxing or staining to last several margins; final 2 leaves with repairs and in reverse order; overall in fine condition.  RISM G 4497. Hirsch II, 366. MGG V, 823.

Zémire et Azor is an opéra comique, described as a comédie-ballet mêlée de chants et de danses, in four acts by the Belgian composer André Grétry. The French text was by Jean-François Marmontel based on La Belle et la bête (Beauty and the Beast) by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont, and Amour pour amour by P. C. Nivelle de La Chaussé. The opera includes the famous coloratura display piece La Fauvette in which the soprano imitates birdsong. The opera was first performed by the Comédie-Italienne at Fontainebleau on 9 November 1771 and at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris on 16 December 1771. It remained in the French repertory until at least 1821 and enjoyed worldwide success. Catherine II of Russia had the opera staged in St. Petersburg in 1774. The opera house in Grétry's hometown, Liège, opened in 1820 with a production of the opera. (20924)

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