| French: Pénélope | |
| Type: | Tragédie lyrique |
| Composer: | Niccolò Piccinni |
| Librettist: | Jean-François Marmontel |
| Based On: | Homer's Odyssey |
| Language: | French |
| Premiere Location: | Fontainebleau |
Pénélope is a French-language opera by the composer Niccolò Piccinni, first performed at Fontainebleau on 2 November 1785 in the presence of King Louis XVI and his queen Marie-Antoinette. It takes the form of a tragédie lyrique in three acts. The libretto, by Jean-François Marmontel, is based on the story of Odysseus (Ulysses) and Penelope in Homer's Odyssey. The opera transferred to the Académie Royale de Musique, Paris (the Paris Opera) on 6 December 1785, but it was not a success.
| Cast | Voice type | Premiere | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pénélope | soprano | Antoinette Saint-Huberty | |
| Théone | soprano | Marie-Thérèse Davoux Maillard | |
| Télémaque (Telemachus) | tenor | Étienne Lainez | |
| Ulisse (Ulysses) | basse taille (bass-baritone) | Henri Larrivée | |
| Laèrte (Laertes) | baritone | Louis-Claude-Armand Chardin ("Chardiny") | |
| Eumée (Eumaeus) | haute-contre | [1] | |
| Nésus | bass-baritone | Moreau | |
| Minerve (the goddess Minerva) | soprano | Mlle Châteauvieux | |
| Une coryphée | soprano | Mlle Buret | |
| Chorus: Eight suitors of Penelope, people | |||