David et Jonathas

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David et Jonathas (David and Jonathan), H. 490, is an opera in five acts and a prologue by the French composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier, first performed at the Collège Louis-le-Grand, Paris, on 28 February 1688. The libretto, by Father François Bretonneau, is based on the Old Testament story of the friendship between David and Jonathan.

Although the opera takes the form of a typical French tragédie en musique it has also been referred to as a tragédie biblique because of its Biblical subject matter. David et Jonathas was first performed at a Jesuit college in combination with a spoken drama in Latin, Saul, by Father Étienne Chamillard (1656–1730). Each act of the opera was followed by one act from the play.

Charpentier's work was so successful, it was reprised at other Jesuit colleges in 1706, 1715 and 1741. The opera received its American premiere in Baltimore in 2005.^[1] Pinchgut Opera performed the Australian premiere^[2] in 2008;^[3] a recording was released on ABC Classics.^[4] A staging at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, France, with William Christie as musical director, was filmed in 2012. In 2022, a new production directed by Marshall Pynkoski and choreographed by Jeannette Lajeunesse Zingg (with costumes created by Christian Lacroix) was staged at the Château de Versailles, France with Gaëtan Jarry as musical director.