If you got stuck on the title, as I did, the list of characters provides a clue: it’s ‘The Golden Fleece’, of course. But what about the composer (of whom I was equally ignorant)? Johann Christoph Vogel was born in Nuremberg in 1756, the same year as Mozart. In 1776 he moved to Paris, where he earned his living as a horn player and composer. La toison d’or was staged at the Opéra in 1786 but taken off after nine performances. A revised version, with a different title, fared even less well: it had a run of only three performances in 1788, in the middle of which the composer died. Vogel’s other opera, Démophon, was performed posthumously the following year and revived in 1793.

It seems to have been the demon drink that did for Vogel, but – let’s look on the bright side – it was through drink that he met his librettist, Philippe Desriaux. There are weaknesses in the plot: Medea murders her rival onstage, Jason and the chorus making threatening noises but failing to intervene; and although the Sibyl begs her not to kill her children, no more is heard of Medea’s most heinous crime. But Desriaux provided a serviceable text that enabled Vogel to explore Medea’s emotions with a Gluckian intensity.

And indeed it’s Gluck who casts a long shadow over the opera. Vogel dedicated the score to the older man, who praised it in return. He was criticised at the time for following slavishly in Gluck’s footsteps, and there are certainly echoes. In his air ‘Je suis venu chercher’, for instance, Jason could be Hercules in the French version of Alceste. But the music is effective, with excellent writing for the chorus and orchestra, including a scene where Medea conjures up a storm and Jason’s crew is shipwrecked. Marie Kalinine is superb, whether raging at Jason, summoning the Sibyl in an ‘invocation’ or reflecting miserably on her situation. Judith Van Wanroij sings strongly as Hypsipyle – a shame that she dies without a murmur when stabbed by Medea. Jean-Sébastien Bou is equally powerful as the duplicitous Jason. Hervé Niquet directs admirably. Vogel is a real find: if Démophon is equally good, I hope a recording will follow.