 Grétry successfully blended Italian tunefulness with a careful setting of the French language.He was a versatile composer who expanded the range of "opéra comique" to cover a wide variety of subjects from the Oriental fairy tale "Zémire et Azor" (1772) to the musical satire of "Le jugement de Midas" (1778) and the domestic farce of "L'amant jaloux" (also 1778).His most famous work was the historical "rescue opera", "Richard Coeur-de-lion" (1784), which achieved international popularity, reaching London in 1786 and Boston in 1797.