What is "armide"

Armide is an opera by Jean-Baptiste Lully. The libretto by Philippe Quinault is based on Torquato Tasso's poem La Gerusalemme liberata ( Jerusalem Delivered). The work is in the form of a tragédie en musique, a genre invented by Lully and Quinault.

Critics in the 18th century regarded Armide as Lully's masterpiece. It continues to be well-regarded, featuring some of the best-known music in French baroque opera and being arguably ahead of its time in its psychological interest. Unlike most of his operas, Armide concentrates on the sustained psychological development of a character — not Renaud, who spends most of the opera under Armide's spell, but Armide, who repeatedly tries without success to choose vengeance over love.

Armide is the French and English form of the name Armida, a sorceress in Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata, after whom are also named:

• Armide (Lully), an opera by Jean-Baptiste Lully
• Armide (Gluck), an opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck
• Le Pavillon d'Armide, ballet by Fokine
• Armide (ship), a French frigate
  • Armide-class frigate

See also Armida#Armida in opera