"The creation of Isis in 1677 before the court triggered strong reactions. The plot features again unfaithful Jupiter, courting the nymph Io and berated by his spouse Juno. The libretto takes the characters into a series of quirky and fantastic adventures, where the god Pan creates his famous flute, Mercury turns Hierax, Io’s fiancé, into a bird and Io descends into Inferno.

The public immediately read it as a caricature of Madame de Montespan’s jealous attitude to Madame de Ludres, the King’s latest favourite. The performances were interrupted and Quinault was exiled for two years.

History remembered the anecdote, depriving the work of the success it deserved. Lully deployed unprecedented refinement, chiseling the musical structures of pieces, using well-known motifs, inventing descriptive techniques – such as “tremblers” to express cold, used later by Purcell, Vivaldi and Salieri – showing a remarkably original verve in the suggestion of emotions and characters."

- Bénédicte Hertz -