Sapho | |
---|---|
pièce lyrique by Jules Massenet | |
Librettist | |
Language | French |
Based on | Sapho by Alphonse Daudet |
Premiere | 27 November 1897 Opéra Comique, Paris |
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]