Platée

Rameau bought the rights to the libretto Platée ou Junon jalouse (Plataea, or Juno Jealous) by Jacques Autreau (1657–1745) and had d'Orville modify it.

Rameau's first attempt at comic opera, the plot concerns an ugly water nymph who believes that Jupiter, the king of the gods, is in love with her.

Comic opera was relatively rare during the Baroque era in France and the musicologist Cuthbert Girdlestone expresses his surprise that none of Rameau's contemporaries seem to have remarked on the innovative nature of Platée.

It even pleased critics who had expressed hostility to his musical style during the Querelle des Bouffons (an argument over the relative merits of French and Italian opera).

[8] Its first public run was very successful and it was later revived in 1750 and again in 1754, always starring in the title role the second leading haute-contre of the Opéra, Jean-Paul Spesoller [it], called La Tour.

[14] Platée appeared again at the Salle Favart in 1989 with Jean-Claude Malgoire as conductor,[13] and in 1999 it was staged at the Palais Garnier in Paris in a production by Laurent Pelly that was later released on DVD, with Jean-Paul Fouchécourt, then Paul Agnew, in the title part, conducted by Marc Minkowski.

[13] Its first performance in Australia was by Pinchgut Opera in Sydney, directed by Neil Armfield, conducted by Erin Helyard, with Kanen Breen in the title role, Cheryl Barker as Juno and her husband, Peter Coleman-Wright, as Jupiter.

When Thalie and Momus arrive, they seek Thespis' help in planning the presentation of an entertainment in which they will recreate a long-ago attempt by Jupiter to cure his wife, Juno, of her jealousy.

In the middle of a raging storm, Mercury comes down from the heavens and explains to Citheron that it is caused by Juno's jealousy and that he has been sent by Jupiter to find a way of taking his mind off the problem.

An extended divertissment proceeds, including a show-stopping highlight in which La Folie (Madness) sings the story of Apollo and Daphne as a warning to Platée not to get involved with Jupiter.