L'Europe galante

L'Europe galante is an opéra-ballet in a prologue and four entrées by André Campra to a French libretto by Antoine Houdar de la Motte.
The opera is regarded as the first opéra-ballet, with the entrées sharing a common theme – in this case 'love' in four countries, France, Spain, Italy and Turkey – rather than a common narrative.

Performance history

L'Europe Galante was first performed on 24 October 1697 by the Paris Opéra in the Salle du Palais-Royal in Paris. It was successful and was revived periodically until 1775. In 1997 – on the 300th anniversary of its creation – Istanbul Baroque led by Leyla Pınar staged L'Europe Galante in Istanbul Dolmabahçe Palace. They then toured it to the Brussels Printemps baroque du Sablon festival the same year.