Adopting a formula successfully employed by Mondonville a few years earlier, these pieces differ from trio sonatas in that the harpsichord is not simply there as basso continuo to accompany other instruments (the violin, flute or viol) playing the melody but has an equal part in the "concert" with them.
Zoroastres premiere in 1749 was not a success; despite the magnificence of the staging, it failed to compete with Mondonville's new opéra-ballet Le carnaval du Parnasse.
Mondonville's Occitan opera was again performed in Montpellier in 1981 and recorded; in 1999 some pieces were recorded on CD with baroque musical instruments.