Opera
Synopsis
The chaste Hippolyte and the priestess Aricie are secretly in love, but Hippolyte's stepmother Phèdre harbours a guilty passion for him. When Phèdre's advances are rejected, she accuses Hippolyte of assault, and his father Thésée calls down Neptune's wrath upon his own son. Rameau's first opera, modelled on Racine's Phèdre, stunned audiences with its harmonic daring and dramatic power.