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Les âges (English: The Ages) or Le ballet des âges is an opéra-ballet in a prologue and three acts by the French composer André Campra. The libretto is by Louis Fuzelier. It was first performed by the Académie royale de musique at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal on 9 October 1718.

Structure

The three acts were entitled:

1. La jeunesse ou L'amour ingénu (Youth or Naive Love)
2. L'âge viril ou L'amour coquet (Manhood or Pretty Love)
3. La vieillesse ou L'amour enjoué (Old Age or Playful Love)

The 1718 printed score includes a further act entitled Les âges rivaux (Rival Ages), which is numbered as the third entrée, while La vieillesse ou L'amour enjoué (with some alterations) is turned into the fourth entrée.

Roles

References

1. Les Ages. Ballet en Musique Par Monsieur Campra, Paris, Ballard, 1718 (digitized at IMSLP).
2. According to the clefs used in the 1718 manuscript score (digitized at IMSLP).
3. Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "Les âges, 9 October 1718". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).
4. The part is notated in the quite unusual F-clef placed on the third line (baritone clef).
5. Haran was a member of the corps de ballet: besides performing the role of Folly in the final dancing divertissement, she was also callep upon to sing Folly's arietta ("air la Folie", in the score), "Riens sur la terre et dans les cieux".

Further reading

• (in French) Original libretto: Les Ages, Balet Representé pour la Premiere Fois par l'Académie Royale de Musique, Le Dimanche neuf Octobre 1718, Paris, Ribou, 1718 (accessible for free online at Gallica, Bibliothèque Nationale de France)
• The Viking Opera Guide ed. Holden (Viking, 1993)
• Le magazine de l'opéra baroque

External links

• Les âges: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project

• Opera

• Opéras-ballets
• Operas by André Campra
• French-language operas
• Operas
• Opera world premieres at the Paris Opera
• 1718 operas