Opera Lafayette/Brown - Grety: L'Epreuve Villageoise

L'�preuve villageoise (The Village Trial) - which, in its original form as Th�odore et Paulin, was first performed before Marie Antoinette at Versailles - was one of Andr�-Ernest-Modeste Gr�try's most popular works. For a century after its 1784 premi�re it enjoyed huge acclaim across Europe and even travelled to the New World, where it captivated audiences in New York. Gr�try was a master of eighteenth-century op�ra comique and this crisp and lively farce centres on a clever farmer's daughter and her two competing suitors. Employing divergent stylistic registers - finesse and naivet�, music reminiscent of popular song, and extended ensembles - Gr�try fashioned a score of sophisticated wit and huge charm.