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Overview

Synopsis

King Admète is gravely ill, and the people of Pherae are filled with sorrow at the thought of losing their just and faithful king. They seek guidance from their god, Apollo, who decrees that the king will die unless a sacrifice is offered to take his place. Queen Alceste cannot bear to lose her husband, and does not want to leave her people without their protector, so she decides to take the sacrifice upon herself.

Immediately, King Admète’s health returns, but when he learns it is at the price of his beloved wife’s own life, he rejects it. Life without Alceste would be torture to him and she should not have offered herself in this way. He appeals to Apollo to release them from this bond, but nothing can be done. Alceste’s oath is with death himself.

The appointed time arrives, and Alceste approaches the gates to the underworld. Admète cannot live without his wife, and follows her to the gates, prepared to accept the fate that was originally his. Thanatos, the god of death, meets them and tells them to decide; only one life is owed. The infernal spirits linger around them while husband and wife try to bargain to save each other.

Fate has brought the hero Hercule to the palace, and on hearing of the impending sacrifice, Hercule faces the infernal spirits in a great battle. At that moment, Apollo himself descends from the heavens and puts everything right. After seeing such true love and devotion between two good and honorable people, he cannot permit them to suffer such pain. He restores Alceste’s life, and leaves them to live out their days in peace and happiness.

Although it was written, and first performed, in Italian in 1767, Gluck’s Alceste gained its popularity in the second version, translated into French, and adapted to better suit the operatic conventions in France, for its 1776 performance in Paris. Today, it is the French version which is most often performed, and thought of as the true version of the opera.

Show Information

Music
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Libretto
Ranieri de Calzabigi , François-Louis Gand Le Bland Du Roullet
Based on the Play/Book/Film
Alcestis by Euripedes
Category
Opera
Age Guidance
Youth (Y)/General Audiences (G)
Number of Acts
3
First Produced
1767
Genres
Historical/Biographical, Drama
Settings
Period, Multiple Settings
Time & Place
Pherae, Thessaly, Ancient Greece, Ancient Times
Cast Size
medium
Orchestra Size
Large
Dancing
Some Dance
Licensor
None/royalty-free
Ideal For
College/University, Professional Opera, Mostly Male Cast, Includes Adult, Young Adult, Mature Adult, Child, Early Teen, Late Teen Characters, Medium Cast

Context


Plot


Characters

Name Part Size Gender Vocal Part

Alceste

Lead

Female

Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano

Admète

Lead

Male

Tenor

Évandre

Supporting

Male

Tenor, Baritone

Le Grand-Prêtre

Supporting

Male

Baritone, Bass

Hercule

Supporting

Male

Bass

Ismene

Featured

Female

Soprano

L'Oracle

Featured

Male

Bass

Le Héraut

Featured

Male

Bass, Baritone

Thanatos

Featured

Male

Bass

Eumelo & Aspasia (2)

Featured

Either Gender

Soprano, Treble/Boy Soprano

Apollon

Featured

Male

Baritone

Chorus

Ensemble

Either Gender

Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Tenor, Bass, Baritone

Songs

Author’s note: The breakdown given below is for the 1776 Paris version of the opera, as this is most regularly performed.

Overture

Act One

  • No. 1 Recitative ‘Peuples, ecoutez!’ - Héraut
  • Chorus ‘O Dieux! Qu’allons nous’ - Évandre, Chorus
  • No. 2 Chorus ‘O malheureux Admète’
  • No. 3 Recitative ‘Sujets du Roi’ - Alceste
  • Chorus ‘Malheureux patrie’
  • No. 4 Aria ‘Helas! Dans ce malheur’ - Alceste
  • Chorus ‘O malheureux Admète’
  • No. 5 Recitative ‘Suivez-moi’ - Alceste, Évandre
  • Chorus ‘O Dieux, qu’allons nous’
  • No. 6 Pantomime
  • No. 7 Recitative and Chorus ‘Dieu puissant’ - Le Grand-Prêtre, Chorus
  • No. 8 Recitative ‘Dispensateur de la’ - Le Grand-Prêtre
  • Chorus ‘Dieu puissant’
  • No. 9 Recitative ‘Suspendez vos sacres’ - Le Grand-Prêtre, Alceste
  • No. 10 Pantomime
  • No. 11 Recitative ‘Apollon est sensible’ - Le Grand-Prêtre, L’Oracle
  • Chorus ‘Quel oracle funeste!’ - Le Grand-Prêtre, Chorus
  • No. 12 Recitative ‘Ou suis-je?’ - Alceste
  • Aria ‘Eh! Pourrais, je vivre’ - Alceste
  • No. 13 Recitative ‘Arbitres du sort’ - Alceste
  • No. 14 Recitative ‘Tes destins sont’ - Le Grand-Prêtre
  • Aria ‘Deja la mort s’apprete’ - Le Grand-Prêtre, Alceste
  • No. 15 Aria ‘Divinités du Styx’ - Alceste

Act Two

  • No. 16 Chorus ‘Que les plus doux’
  • Ballet
  • No. 17 Chorus ‘Que les plus doux’
  • No. 18 Recitative ‘O mon Roi!’ - Evadre, Admète
  • Chorus ‘Vivez aime des jours’
  • No. 19 Recitative ‘Alceste! Chère Alceste!’ - Admète, Évandre
  • Chorus ‘Livron nous a l'allégresse’
  • No. 20 Recitative ‘Transports flatteurs’ - Admète
  • Chorus ‘Parez vos fronts’ - Alceste, Chorus
  • No. 21 Recitative ‘O moment delicieux!’ - Admète, Alceste
  • Aria ‘Bannis la crainte’ - Admète
  • No. 22 Recitative ‘Ciel! Tu pleures?’ - Alceste, Admète
  • Aria ‘Je n’ai jamais’- Alceste
  • No. 23 Recitative ‘Tu m’aimes, je t’adore’ - Admète, Alcina
  • Chorus ‘O dieux!’
  • No. 24 Recitative ‘O coup affreux!’ - Alceste, Admète
  • Aria ‘Barbare, non, sans toi’ - Alceste
  • No. 25 Recitative ‘Grands dieux!’ - Alceste
  • Chorus ‘Tant de graces!’
  • No. 26 Recitative ‘Dérobez-moi vos pleurs’ - Alceste
  • Aria ‘Ah! Malgré moi’ - Alceste
  • Chorus ‘Oh! Que le songe’

Act Three

  • No. 27 Aria ‘Nous ne pouvons’ - Évandre
  • Chorus ‘Pleure, o patrie’
  • No. 28 Recitative ‘Apres de longs travaux’ - Hercules, Évandre
  • Chorus ‘Hercule!’
  • Aria ‘C’est envain’ - Hercules
  • No. 29 Recitative ‘Grands Dieux, soutenez’ - Alceste
  • Chorus ‘Malheureuse! Ou vas tu!’
  • Aria ‘Ah! Divinites’ - Alceste
  • No. 30 Recitative ‘Ciel! Admète! - Alceste, Admète
  • Aria ‘Alceste, au nom des Dieux’ - Admète
  • Duet ‘Aux cris de la douleur’ - Alceste, Admète
  • No. 31 Aria ‘Caron t’appelle’ - Thanatos
  • Recitative ‘Qu'il vive! - Alceste, Admète, Hercules
  • Chorus ‘Notre fureur!’ - Hercules, Chorus
  • Recitative ‘Des mains de l'amitié’ - Hercules, Admète
  • No. 32 Recitative ‘Poursuis, o digne’ - Apollon,
  • Trio ‘Recois, dieu’ - Alceste, Admète, Hercules
  • No. 33 Recitative ‘O mes enfants!’ - Admète, Alcina
  • Chorus ‘O moment fortune’
  • Ballet

A song with an asterisk (*) before the title indicates a dance number; a character listed in a song with an asterisk (*) by the character's name indicates that the character exclusively serves as a dancer in this song, which is sung by other characters.

Monologues

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Scenes

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Guide Written By:

Wendy Silvester

Wendy Silvester

Singer and vocal coach based in the UK.