Les sibarites

Les sibarites (The Sybarites) is an opera in the form of a one-act acte de ballet by Jean-Philippe Rameau, first performed on 13 November 1753 at Fontainebleau.

The Sybarite festivities are suddenly interrupted by the noise of war (Chorus: "Quel bruit se mêle à nos concerts!").

Left alone, she prays to Cupid to aid her (Air: "Tendre Amour, prête-moi tes armes").

The Crotoniates arrive under their leader Astole, who rejects the Sybarites' flowers and accuses them of effeminacy ("Peuple efféminé, cœurs timides").

Astole says he has come to teach the Sybarites to throw off their idleness and acquire a thirst for glory, but he is disturbed to find himself succumbing to Sybaris's charms.