La reine de Saba

La reine de Saba
Grand opera by Charles Gounod
Act I, scene 2 in the premiere, design by Édouard Desplechin
TranslationThe Queen of Sheba
Librettist
LanguageFrench
Based onLe voyage en Orient
by Gérard de Nerval
Premiere
28 February 1862 (1862-02-28)

La reine de Saba (The Queen of Sheba) is a grand opera in four or five[1] acts by Charles Gounod to a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré inspired by Gérard de Nerval's La Reine de Saba, in Le voyage en Orient. It was premiered at the Salle Le Peletier by the Paris Opera on February 28, 1862. The magnificent first production was directed by Eugène Cormon, with costumes designed by Alfred Albert and Paul Lormier, and scenery by Édouard Desplechin (Act I), Charles-Antoine Cambon and Joseph Thierry (Acts II and IV, scene 2), Hugues Martin (Act III), and Joseph Nolau and Auguste Alfred Rubé (Act IV, scene 1).

  1. ^ Partition Chant et Piano par Georges Bizet, Choudens fils, Paris nd.; Grove says five acts and other printings of the Chouens score apparently divide the two scenes of the third act.