Whilst the court of the ageing Louis XIV was endeavouring to conserve the spirit of the Grand Siècle at Versailles, Paris was already humming with the new ideas of the Age of Enlightenment. With its prologue and three festive acts, its exotic dances and its virtuoso arias in Italian, Le Carnaval de Venise was one of the most original experiences to be had in musical drama at the time, one which was to earn Campra the reputation as the new maestro of French opera, as well as the musical eulogist for the Regency.

In a magisterial act of conflation, this composer blends the styles of Lully, Lalande, Monteverdi and Cavalli and manages also to foreshadow Handel and Rameau. He dreamt up a multi-hued score, capable of recapturing in Paris both the carnival spirit in general and that of the legendary Venice in particular.

With this Carnaval de Venise, Le Concert Spirituel and Hervé Niquet add a new title to their tireless work of recovering operatic jewels from those prodigious 17th and 18th centuries, amongst which are Proserpine by Lully, Sémélé by Marais and Andromaque by Grétry, all released on Glossa.

Cast:
- Isabelle: Salomé Haller (soprano)
- Léonore: Marina de Liso (mezzo-soprano)
- Rodolphe: Andrew Foster-Williams (bass)
- Léandre: Edwin Crossley-Mercer (bass)
- Orphée: Anders J Dahlin (tenor)
- Euridice: Sarah Tynan (soprano)
- Minerve / La Fortune: Isabelle Druet (mezzo-soprano)
- Le Carnaval / Pluton: Luigi de Donato (bass)

Recorded in the Salle Colonne, Paris, January 2011.