Gretry - Le Magnifique

Facts Andre Ernest-Modeste Gretry was the greatest French composer of opera-comique in the eighteenth century. His librettist for Le Magnifique Jean-Michel Sedaine took a tale by La Fontaine and fashioned it into a compelling libretto. Gretry responded with an outstanding score including one of the first programmatic overtures in musical history. His expressive love music and extended preludes and postludes add to the theatrical variety of this important and varied opera.