Platée at Theater an der Wien

In March 1745 Platée was created for the wedding of the heir to the French throne in Versailles, one of the last
major celebrations of the Ancien Régime. A great tragedy would have been appropriate to the this event; Rameau
also according to this scheme, built his factory but Platée is a clever parody. The love intrigue a
ugly, vain Marsh nymph was not well received, as glorifying wedding Opera but in Versailles
was she indeed unsuitable:

Juno devastated the harvest with wild storms because it is once again angry about Jupiter, their unfaithful
Husband and Chief of the gods. This time, however, their anger is void, Jupiter is faithful to her. Mercure and Cithéron want to heal Juno by this unprovoked jealousy. Choose a plot: in a swamp
lives the ugly water nymph, Platée, the Cithéron pursues her affection. Will tells her that Jupiter would be
in love with. The father of the gods, the plan appears dedicated, in the shape of a donkey, Platée feigns her love
ago and orders a wedding reception. Juno is lured up to the bogus wedding. Full of fury, she pulls the
alleged bride the veil down. Given the ugliness of Platées, she must have their own
Jealousy laughing and reconciled with Jupiter. Cithéron and Jupiter have their peace of mind, only Platée is
lonely and humiliated.

In Paris, Platée was in 1749, immediately to one of the most successful pieces of Rameau's. The audience strolled
located at the the fine composed, subtly comical music and the voice and sound playing - the croaking
Swamp frogs, the I-ahen Jupiter in the form of donkey. Since the mid-20th century, Platée is back
most played Opera of Rameau's. But it's not just the burlesque elements that characterise the work,
Rameau also sympathetically portrays Platées fate, to be brutally laughed and jeered, as
pitiable: The laughter gets stuck in the throat at the end. Jean-Jacques Rousseau acclaimed Platée
1750 "as the best piece of music to hear this today on our stages was."