Sapho (Massenet)

Sapho
pièce lyrique by Jules Massenet
Poster by Jean de Paleologu for the premiere
Librettist
LanguageFrench
Based onSapho
by Alphonse Daudet
Premiere
27 November 1897 (1897-11-27)

Sapho is a pièce lyrique ("lyric play", an opera in a declamatory style) in five acts. The music was composed by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Cain and Arthur Bernède, based on the novel (1884) of the same name by Alphonse Daudet. It was first performed on 27 November 1897 by the Opéra Comique at the Théâtre Lyrique on the Place du Châtelet in Paris with Emma Calvé as Fanny Legrand. A charming and effective piece, the success of which is highly dependent on the charisma of its lead soprano, it has never earned a place in the standard operatic repertory.[1]

  1. ^ Milnes 1992, pp. 176–177.