Because he was tidy-minded enough to die 50 years after he was born, the French composer Joseph-Nicolas-Pancrace Royer has both a 300th and 250th anniversary this year. So it is probably now or never for his “ballet-héroïque”, Zaïde Queen of Granada, to be belatedly championed.

It was a hit when performed during the weddings of Louis XV’s offspring in 1739 and 1745, and later revived for the wedding of the ill-fated Marie Antoinette in 1770. But then it more or less disappeared. Saturday’s performance, its first complete outing in modern times, came courtesy of a new edition by Lionel Sawkins — whose picture and biography were given hilarious prominence in the programme.

Zaïde is well worth his labours. True, the plot isn’t exactly Raymond Chandler. Queen Zaïde, sitting in her Alhambra, has to choose between the affections of two rival Moorish princes. She picks the nice prince, which is a pity because the nasty one has the better music. His raging and cursing number, powerfully projected by the young South African bass Jacques Imbrailo, is a tour de force of snarling vocal runs and swirling fiddles.

But what really makes Zaïde worth reviving is Royer’s lilting triple-time tunes, his sparse but sensuous orchestral textures with flutes and oboes very prominent, his exuberant choral writing and his fluid treatment of recitative and aria. It is also a superbly concise piece. There is little textual repetition. It’s hard to believe that it comes from the same era as Handel’s grandiose arias.

This performance needed more Gallic elegance in the phrasing, and a good deal more colouring of the text by some soloists. Too many eyes seemed glued to the dots. Jeni Bern safely negotiated most of Zaïde’s challenging runs, but never mustered enough regal tone. And the Canadian tenor Daniel Auchincloss made a heroic stab at the high-lying part of Octave. But it was the 22-year-old Sophie Bevan who most often caught the ear: a rich, clear, tuneful soprano with apparently huge reserves of power. Remember the name.

Graham Caldbeck obtained neat if occasionally anodyne playing from the Band of Instruments, and the Nonsuch Singers had an excellent night. Royer takes his chorus parts into the stratosphere, but this choir never faltered in intonation or tone.