Armide (Lully)

Armide (Lully)

Armide is an opera by Jean-Baptiste Lully. The libretto was written by Philippe Quinault, based on Torquato Tasso's La Gerusalemme liberata (Jerusalem Delivered).

Critics in the 18th century regarded Armide as Lully's masterpiece. Unlike most of his operas, Armide concentrates on the sustained psychological development of a character — not Renaud, who spends most of the opera under Armide's spell, but Armide, who repeatedly tries without success to choose vengeance over love.

The work is in the form of a tragédie en musique, a genre invented by Lully and Quinault.