Sapho (Massenet)

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Opera dates
Title: Sapho
Poster of the premiere

Poster of the premiere

Shape: Opera in five acts
Original language: French
Music: Jules Massenet
Libretto : Henri Cain , Arthur Bernède
Literary source: Alphonse Daudet : Sappho
Premiere: November 27, 1897
Place of premiere: Opéra-Comique
Playing time: approx. 2 ¼ hours
Place and time of the action: Paris, 2nd half of the 19th century
people
  • Fanny Legrand , an artist model, under the name Sapho ( soprano )
  • Jean Gaussin , a young man ( tenor )
  • Irène , his stepsister (soprano)
  • Divonne , Jeans mother ( mezzo-soprano )
  • Césaire , Jeans father ( bass )
  • Caoudal , a sculptor ( baritone )
  • A restaurant owner (baritone)
  • A peasant (tenor)
  • Artists, guests, vagabonds: ( choir and extras)

Sapho is an opera ( Pièce Lyrique ) in five acts by Jules Massenet (music) with a libretto by Henri Cain and Arthur Bernède based on the novella of the same name by Alphonse Daudet . The work contains lyrical, sentimental, emotional, passionate and dramatic elements. The focus is on woman's love. Claude Debussy described the opera as Musicien de la femme et de l'amour .

Work history

Emma Calvé as Sapho

The premiere took place on November 27, 1897 at the Opéra-Comique in Paris . In this production, Sapho was presented in a very shortened form with Emma Calvé , a very important opera singer at the time in the role of Fanny Legrand, due to the limited availability of Emma Calvé and the imminent death of Alphonse Daudet, who was a close friend Massenets was. Additions to the score were made after several performances. The revised and expanded version was again performed on January 22, 1909 in the Opéra-Comique as part of a new production.

The opera was performed at some European and North American opera houses at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, but never became part of the usual operatic repertoire. In New York City , the piece has been performed several times, including in 1979 with Elisabeth Söderström and Donald Grobe . Occasionally the work is performed at opera festivals, for example at the Wexford Festival Opera or the Massenet Festival .

action

first act

Jean Gaussin, a shy young man from Provence, has come to Paris to study. At a costume ball by the sculptor Caoudal, the confused Gaussin withdraws to a quieter corner amid the loud dance music and sings an aria. Fanny Legrand, a beautiful artist model known as Sapho, is fascinated by this young man who is so fundamentally different from her friends. She makes his acquaintance and leaves society with him.

Second act

Jean Gaussin is in his accommodation with his parents and his stepsister Irène, who was obviously chosen by them as the wife of Jean. After the parents and Irène left the apartment, Fanny appeared unannounced and soon drove away all memories of Jean's family.

Third act

Fanny and Jean celebrate happily with other guests in a small restaurant near Paris. Through a coincidental word from Caoudal, Jean learns for the first time that the so adored Fanny is nothing but Sapho, an easy-going model, and he is told about her past. When Fanny reappears, Jean leaves the party disappointed and angry.

Jean has returned to Fanny's house and finds a box containing letters from her former lovers. Fanny followed him. He forces her to burn the letters after first reading them and finding out that she has an illegitimate child whose father is a convicted forger. So he finds it more and more difficult to believe that he is her first and only true love and leaves her.

Fourth act

In his parents' house in Provence, Jean asks them for forgiveness, which is granted by his mother. Irène also forgives him. Unexpectedly, Fanny appears with the obvious intention of retaking Jean. He greets her coolly and reminds her of her past and the impossibility of returning to her, whereupon she leaves the house without him.

Fifth act

Fanny is alone in the rural accommodation she previously shared with Jean. She is about to leave when Jean suddenly returns. She asks him to go again, but he promises that he is now ready to sacrifice everything to live with her. She promises to stay, but when he falls asleep in his chair, she secretly leaves him.

Sound carrier (selection)

  • 1973: Milla Andrew (Fanny Legrand), Alexander Oliver (Jean Gaussin), Laura Sarti (Divonne), George Macpherson (Césaire), Jenny Hill (Irène), Neilson Taylor (Caoudal), Bernard Dickerson (a farmer), Norman Lumsden ( the restaurant owner), Academy of the BBC, BBC West of England Singers, Bernard Keefe (conductor), Opera D'Oro OPD7015
  • 2001: Giuseppina Piunti (Fanny Legrand), Brandon Jovanovich (Jean Gaussin), Agata Bienkowska (Divonne), Massimiliano Gagliardo (Césaire), Ermonela Jaho (Irène), Luca Salsi (Caoudal), Angel Pazos (a farmer), Nicolas Courjal ( the restaurant owner), Wexford Festival Opera Chorus; National Philharmonic Orchestra of Belarus; Jean-Pierre Tingaud (conductor); Fonè CD / SACD 023

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Analysis and summary
  2. ↑ Massenet's “Sapho” is disappointing; Specifically Musical Element of Opera, Heard Here for First Time, Is Thin And Bare. … In: The New York Times . November 18, 1909 ( nytimes.com ).
  3. ^ Opera: Massenet 'Sapho.' In: The New York Times. January 25, 1979 ( nytimes.com ).
  4. ^ Wexford Festival

Web links

Commons : Sapho (Massenet)  - collection of images, videos and audio files