Richard Coeur de Lion

Richard Coeur-de-lion (Richard the Lionheart) is an opéra comique, described as a comédie mise en musique, by the Belgian composer André Grétry. The French text was by Michel-Jean Sedaine. The work is generally recognised as Grétry's masterpiece and one of the most important French opéras comiques. It is based on a legend about King Richard I of England's captivity in Austria and his rescue by the troubadour Blondel de Nesle.
It was first performed in three acts by the Comédie-Italienne at the first Salle Favart in Paris on 21 October 1784. It was given in a revised four-act version at Fontainebleau on 25 October 1785. The opera reached the United Kingdom in 1786 and Boston, USA in 1797. It was immensely popular and was still being played in France at the end of the 19th century.