Les bayadères

Les bayadères is an opera in three acts by the composer Charles-Simon Catel. The French-language libretto, by Victor-Joseph Étienne de Jouy, is based on Voltaire's story L'education d'un prince. It was first performed at the Paris Opéra on 8 August 1810 with the famous soprano Caroline Branchu in the lead role of Laméa. Les bayadères was Catel's most popular opera.

The success of the work was helped by a first-rate cast and the luxury of the spectacle. Among the star singers were Madame Branchu, Henri-Étienne Dérivis and Louis Nourrit. The dancers included Émilie Bigottini and Pierre Gardel. By the end of the third act, 130 performers were on stage.Arthur Pougin calculated that the whole production cost 150,000 francs, including 90,000 francs on costumes, a considerable sum for the day.Jean-Baptiste Rey was due to conduct but he died in July. His replacement was Persuis.

Later revivals were often in a reduced, two-act version, first performed on 21 June 1814. A staging of Les bayadères in its original three acts was chosen to mark the inauguration of the Paris Opéra's new home, the Salle Le Peletier, on 16 August 1821.

Les bayadères is an important transitional work in the tradition of operas on Oriental themes. In the 18th-century, these tended to be set in the Middle East and were usually comic in spirit. Examples include Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Grétry's La caravane du Caire. As the 19th century progressed, French Oriental operas moved further eastwards, especially to South Asia, with works such as Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles and Delibes' Lakmé. These were generally more emotional than comic and Les bayadères, set in India and with a serious plot, is an obvious forerunner.

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