La mort d'Adam is a tragédie lyrique on a biblical theme in 3 acts by Jean-François Le Sueur with a French libretto by Nicolas-François Guillard after Klopstock, first performed in 1809, though written a few years earlier.[1] Musicologist Winton Dean described the work as "the most comprehensive and spectacular opera ever conceived", noting that it "combines a Klopstock play with substantial portions of the Book of Genesis and Paradise Lost" and a cast which extends from "the entire human race... the total population of heaven and hell", and with a "Leitmotiv system" of twelve themes, some recalled in combination.[2]
- ^ Jean Mongrédien. "Jean-François Le Sueur". In: The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Macmillan, London & New York, 1997.
- ^ Dean, Winton. Opera under the French Revolution. Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association, 94th Session (1967-1968), pp. 77-96.