Gluck, after his arrival in France, is alleged to have remarked that Paris audiences did not need him to compose good operas for them when they already had Gossec and Philidor. Perhaps the admiration was mutual: Philidor read the proofs of Orfeo ed Euridice when it was published in Paris, and some of the influence of its music must have sunk in. Allegedly the French composer plagiarised a melody from Orfeo in Le sorcier, although its long stretches of spoken dialogue between musical numbers place this closer to popular theatre than the world of serious opera.
But whereas some of Philidor’s earlier operas were essentially based on arrangements of folk songs, Le sorcier is all original music. Warmly received, Philidor became the first French composer to be applauded on the stage after its première in January 1764. The plot concerns a pretend sorcerer who brings two lovers together. This is similar to Rousseau’s Le divin du village, but more notably has links with Mozart’s childhood opera Bastien und Bastienne. Mozart was in Paris in January 1764, and Bastien was composed only three years later. It is not fanciful to imagine some direct influence from Philidor on the young prodigy.