Lully and Weir's operas, Armide and Armida

Abstract

Research question: The question that should be asked, is then: How has the different contexts in which the composers, Lully and Weir, lived/lives, influenced the way in which they interpreted Tasso’s poem and thus composed their operas, Armide and Armida, and what consequences will there be for the performer? Sub-questions: What is the story of Armida in Tasso’s Gerusalemme Liberata and what significance did it have in the time it was written? What was the contextual background in which Lully composed his Armide? How was the performance practice of opera in Lully’s time? How does Lully treat Tasso’s story and what significance did it have in his time? What was the contextual background in which Weir composed her Armida? How is the performance practice of opera in Weir’s time? How does Weir treat Tasso’s story and what significance does it have in her time? What connections are there between Lully and Weir’s treatment of Tasso’s story and their coinciding contexts? What consequences are there for the performer? General objective: The general objective of this thesis is to explain and analyse how the different contexts in which the composers, Lully and Weir, composed their operas, Armide and Armida, influenced the way in which they interpreted Tasso’s poem, and to discover what consequences there are for the performer.