Antoine Gautier de Montdorge

Antoine-César Gautier de Montdorge was a French man of letters, best known for writing the libretto for Rameau's opéra-ballet Les fêtes d'Hébé (1739). Born in Lyon, he moved to Paris, where he worked as a financier. He was a friend and neighbour of Rameau's patron Alexandre Le Riche de La Pouplinière and probably met the composer at La Pouplinière's salon. Montdorge was not identified as the author of Les fêtes d'Hébé on any of its printed editions. It was first attributed to him by Antoine de Léris in the 1763 edition of his Dictionnaire portatif des théâtres. Reviewers severely criticised the literary weakness of the work. The only other opera libretto Montdorge wrote was the one-act comédie-ballet L'opéra de société for Jean-François Giraud in 1762. He described his experience working as a librettist for Rameau in the anonymously published Réflections d'un peintre sur l'opéra (1743).