Tragédie en musique (French:[tʁaʒediɑ̃myzik], musical tragedy), also known astragédie lyrique (French:[tʁaʒediliʁik], lyric tragedy), is a genre ofFrench opera introduced byJean-Baptiste Lully and used by his followers until the second half of the eighteenth century. Operas in this genre are usually based on stories fromclassical mythology or the Italian romantic epics ofTasso andAriosto. The stories may not necessarily have a tragic ending – in fact, most do not – but the works' atmospheres are suffused throughout with an affect of nobility and stateliness. The standardtragédie en musique has five acts. Early works in the genre were preceded by an allegorical prologue and, during the lifetime ofLouis XIV, these generally celebrated the king's noble qualities and his prowess in war. Each of the five acts usually follows a basic pattern, opening with an aria in which one of the main characters expresses their feelings, followed by dialogue in recitative interspersed with short arias (petits airs), in which the main business of the plot occurs. Each act traditionally ends with adivertissement, offering great opportunities for the chorus and the ballet troupe. Composers sometimes changed the order of these features in an act for dramatic reasons.
Apart from Lully, the most considerable writer oftragédies en musique isRameau, whose five works in the form are considered the culminating masterpieces of the genre. TheViking Opera Guide refers toMarc-Antoine Charpentier'stragédieMédée as "arguably the finest French opera of the seventeenth century". In the eighteenth century,Jean-Marie Leclair's lonetragédieScylla et Glaucus has been similarly praised. Other highly esteemed exponents areAndré Campra (Tancrède,Idoménée),Marin Marais (Alcyone, Sémélé) andMichel Pignolet de Montéclair (Jephté).
