The opera "Les Danaïdes" ("The Danaids") is a five-act tragédie lyrique. The plot was based on an ancient Greek legend that had been the basis for the first play in a trilogy by Aeschylus, entitled "The Suppliants". The original commission that reached Salieri in 1783–84 was to assist Gluck in finishing a work for Paris that had been all but completed; in reality, Gluck had failed to notate any of the score for the new opera and gave the entire project over to his young friend. Gluck feared that the Parisian critics would denounce the opera by a young composer known mostly for comic pieces and so the opera was originally billed in the press as being a new work by Gluck with some assistance from Salieri, then shortly before the premiere of the opera the Parisian press reported that the work was to be partly by Gluck and partly by Salieri, and finally after popular and critical success on stage, the opera was acknowledged in a letter to the public by Gluck as being wholly by the young Salieri. "Les Danaïdes" was received with great acclaim and its popularity with audiences and critics alike produced several further requests for new works for Paris audiences by Salieri. "Les Danaïdes" followed in the tradition of reform that Gluck had begun in the 1760s and that Salieri had emulated in his earlier opera "Armida". Salieri's first French opera contained scenes of great solemnity and festivity, but overshadowing it all was darkness and revenge. The opera depicted politically motivated murder, filial duty and love in conflict, tyrannicide, and finally eternal damnation. The opera, with its dark overture, lavish choral writing, many ballet scenes, and electrifying finale depicting a glimpse of hellish torture, kept the opera on the stage in Paris for over forty years. A young Hector Berlioz recorded the deep impression this work made on him in his "Mémoires".