Ippolito ed Aricia

Ippolito ed Aricia is a "reform opera" in five acts by Tommaso Traetta with an Italian libretto by Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni.

However, Tillot decided that he wanted to commission an opera for the court that would merge Italian musical idioms, such as beautiful melodies and virtuosic coloratura display, with French dramatic forms like choruses, ballet, and supernatural elements.

He approached Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni, court poet of Parma, with the idea of creating such an opera using the Italian text of Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie.

He agreed, and Tillot proceeded to recruit Tommaso Traetta to compose the music and Count Francesco Algarotti to assist Frugoni with the libretto.

The resulting work is a rare successful blend of Italian opera seria elements and the French tragédie lyrique.

Phèdre et Hippolyte by Baron Pierre-Narcisse Guérin (1802)
Alexandre Cabanel 's painting Phaedra (1880)