• Jean-Baptiste Lully. Tragédie en musique in a prologue and five acts. 1676.
• Libretto by Philippe Quinault, after Ovid’s Fasti.
• First performance at the French court, St Germain-en-Laye, on 10th January 1676.

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CHARACTERS

Le Temps (Time)	baritone
Flore (Flora), a goddess	soprano
Melpomène (Melpomene), the Muse of tragedy	soprano
Iris, a goddess	soprano
A Zephyr / Hercule (Hercules) / Antée (Antaeus) / Ethéocle (Eteocles) / Polinice (Polynices) / Castor / Pollux	haute-contre / dancers
Atys (Attis), Sangaride’s kinsman, favourite of Célénus	haute-contre
Idas, his friend, brother of Doris	bass
Sangaride, nymph, daughter of the River Sangarius	soprano
Doris, a nymph, her friend, sister of Idas	soprano
Cybèle (Cybele), a goddess	soprano
Mélisse, her confidante and priestess	soprano
Célénus (Celaenus), King of Phrygia, son of Neptune	baritone
Le Sommeil (Sleep)	haute-contre
Morphée (Morpheus), son of Le Sommeil	haute-contre
Phobétor, son of Le Sommeil	bass
Phantase, son of Le Sommeil	tenor
Sangar, god of the River Sangarius	bass
Alecton (Alecto), a Fury	silent role

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The opera opens with a prologue set in the palace of Time, where there is praise of the King from Flora, unseasonable in mid-winter, while other gods and goddesses, with heroes, are represented by dancers. In the tragedy itself Attis, disclaiming his love, is actually in love with Sangaride, who loves him, rather than her betrothed, Celaenus, as she admits to him. The goddess Cybele, in whose honour the Phrygians are gathered, appears. In her temple Celaenus seeks reassurance from Attis, whom, it now seems, Cybele loves and has chosen as Sacrificer. She reveals her love to Attis in a dream, induced by Sleep and his sons, and waking he warns Sangaride to keep their love secret. Mistaking his motives, she pledges her faith to Celaenus, with her father, the River God’s approval. Attis, now Sacrificer to Cybele, forbids the match and he and Sangaride are spirited away by zephyrs. In the last act Cybele summons up the Fury Alecto, who turns Attis mad. In frenzy he kills Sangaride and, coming to his senses, stabs himself to death, to be transformed by Cybele into a pine tree.

Atys, apparently a favourite work of Louis XIV, is the fourth of the tragedies by Lully and Quinault. It involves a large element of spectacle in the dance divertissements and in general lacks the sub-plots that are part of many other operas of the period on the model of the Venetian theatre. In 1780 the same libretto was adapted by Jean François Marmontel for an opera by Niccolò Piccinni.