André Grétry was a composer born in Liège who became one of the leading figures in French opéra comique. After study in Italy, he settled in Paris and found success in the theatrical life of the late eighteenth century.

He wrote many stage works, admired for their melodic directness and sensitivity to language. His operas helped shape the sound and expressive manners of French comic opera.

Grétry’s music is elegant, clear and theatrically responsive, with a gift for character and song-like expression. He helped give the genre a warmer and more natural emotional tone.

His fame in his own time was enormous, even though later repertory has treated him more narrowly. Grétry remains an essential figure in the line from eighteenth-century theatre to French Romantic opera.