‘O Strange Transformation!’ The Monologue from Act II Scene 5 of Lully and Quinault'sArmide(1686) and the Retelling of Tasso in France

Abstract

AbstractIn the famous monologue from Act II scene 5 of Lully and Quinault'sArmide(1686), the title character attempts to slay the sleeping hero Renaud but, overcome by his beauty, falls in love with him instead. As commentators have noted, the monologue departs from the opera's source material, Tasso's epic poemLa Gerusalemme liberata(1581). In contrast to the placid scene recounted by Tasso in canto 14 of the original work, the libretto depicts Armide's transformation from enemy to lover as a moment of struggle and psychological doubt. While scholarship has generally credited Quinault with having recognised the dramatic potential of the encounter, this article argues for a broader contextualisation of the scene in seventeenth-century French artistic production. A review of the major translations and adaptations of Tasso's poem published in France before 1686 reveals that Quinault's libretto represents not a decisive break with the past but rather one contribution to a much broader tradition of literary and musical experimentation.