Zemire en Azor explained

Zemire en Azor should not be confused with Zémire et Azor.

Zemire en Azor (Zémire and Azor) is a 1784 semi-opera, a musical play "with spectacles and a ballet" by Bartholomeus Ruloffs. It is one of the most successful attempts to create a Dutch-language opera in the 18th century. Zemire en Azor was, for its time, a box-office success, with thirteen performances. Ruloffs composed new music to a Dutch libretto, which had been translated from French,^[1] based on Marmontel's La Belle et la bête (Beauty and the Beast).

External links

• Libretto (1783), in Dutch

Notes and References

1. Dutch Culture in a European Perspective (2004) "A favorable exception is the musical play Zemire en Azor 'with spectacles and a ballet' by Bartholomeus Ruloffs, one of whose ... Zemire en Azor was a box-office success, with thirteen performances in 1784, a considerable run for those days. This is original music to a Dutch libretto, albeit one translated from French."