In these three librettos, Philippe Quinault turns from classical opera to medieval legends--Renaud and Armida, Amadis and Oriana, and Angelica and Roland--exploring the tensions between love and glory. As usual, the dramatist relates his stories deftly with classic simplicity. In these adaptions of traditional medieval stories of romance, enchantment, monsters, and magic, either the heroine (Armida or Angelica) loves the hero she should hate, or the hero falls for an enemy enchantress, and has to be rescued from her clutches. The love “cure” is usually effected by means of magic or through the intervention of a fairy. Great entertainment from early French literature!
