Olimpie is an opera in three acts by Gaspare Spontini. The French libretto, by Armand-Michel Dieulafoy and Charles Brifaut, is based on the play of the same name by Voltaire (1761). Olimpie was first performed on 22 December 1819 by the Paris Opéra at the Salle Montansier. When sung in Italian or German, it is usually given the title Olimpia.
The composer
Autograph ms of the first page of the overture
Sketch by Ignazio Degotti [fr] of the décor for act 1 of the 1819 production
Scale model of the Temple of Diana at Ephesus
Gaspare Luigi Pacifico Spontini was an Italian opera composer and conductor from the classical era. During the first two decades of the 19th century, Spontini was an important figure in French opera, and composed over twenty works.
Spontini, after Nicolas-Eustache Maurin
Portrait of Gaspare Spontini, composer (1774-1851)