When did reform end in Parma? Scholars disagree; for some, it occurred with Traetta's third reform opera, Le feste d'Imeneo, the opéra-ballet given for the wedding of Princess Isabella of Parma to Archduke Joseph II of Austria in September 1760. For others, Enea e Lavinia of the following spring (1761), the fourth opera modeled on a tragédie lyrique, brings the reform efforts to a close. The problem of marking the end of the era lies, in part, in the dissimilarity of Traetta's last two works for Parma. But while these pieces exhibit discontinuity in relation to each other, they also reflect a certain degree of consistency in relation to the prior adaptations. Du Tillot declared the period of innovation to have definitively concluded in 1762: “Le projet de nos opéras sur un nouveau plan est abandonné.” The end of the end, as it might be termed, encompassed the eventful period between I tindaridi and Du Tillot's letter to Algarotti, with whom he had shared similar aspirations for the fusion of French and Italian operatic styles.

Le feste d'Imeneo premiered in September 1760, just three months after I tindaridi's closure. The short gestation period of Traetta's third reform opera meant that things happened fast. Perhaps the most important practical change that occurred was the renovation of the Teatro Ducale during summer 1760 in preparation for the wedding festivities. The French architect Jean-Antoine Morand was summoned from Lyon (as Mangot had been before him) to direct and oversee the renovations. He enlarged the auditorium and transformed the stage machinery, raising the theater's level of technical sophistication to match the high degree of aesthetic refinement to which Du Tillot had long aspired. Although the details of the renovation are unknown, Parma's new theatrical machines now allowed for descents from the heavens and into the underworld and for the undulation of the waves from the sea. Specific features of the wedding opera's stage spectacle seem calculated to show off the new capabilities of Parma's theater to delight and astound the spectators. Le feste d'Imeneo is nothing short of a tour de force of visual display.

Parma's Wedding Opera: Le feste d'Imeneo

The work represents a new genre, the opéra-ballet, which had been seen occasionally during the French troupe's tenure, but never before in an Italianate version.