List of performances of French Grand Operas at the Paris Opéra
Encyclopedia
The following list gives number of performances of grand opera
at the Paris Opera
from première to 1962, (as given by Stéphane Wolff, Albert Soubies and other sources).
Grand Opera
Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterised by large-scale casts and orchestras, and lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on or around dramatic historic events...
at the Paris Opera
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera is the primary opera company of Paris, France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the Académie d'Opéra and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and renamed the Académie Royale de Musique...
from première to 1962, (as given by Stéphane Wolff, Albert Soubies and other sources).
- La muette de PorticiLa muette de PorticiLa muette de Portici originally called Masaniello, ou La muette de Portici, is an opera in five acts by Daniel Auber, with a libretto by Germain Delavigne, revised by Eugène Scribe...
, (AuberDaniel AuberDaniel François Esprit Auber was a French composer.-Biography:The son of a Paris print-seller, Auber was born in Caen in Normandy. Though his father expected him to continue in the print-selling business, he also allowed his son to learn how to play several musical instruments...
), premiere 1828: 489 perf.; last in 1882. - Guillaume TellWilliam Tell (opera)Guillaume Tell is an opera in four acts by Gioachino Rossini to a French libretto by Etienne de Jouy and Hippolyte Bis, based on Friedrich Schiller's play Wilhelm Tell. Based on the legend of William Tell, this opera was Rossini's last, even though the composer lived for nearly forty more years...
, (Rossini), premiere 1829: 911 perf.; last in 1930. - Robert le diableRobert le diable (opera)Robert le diable is an opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer, often regarded as the first grand opera. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Casimir Delavigne and has little connection to the medieval legend of Robert the Devil. Originally planned as a three-act opéra comique, "Meyerbeer persuaded...
(MeyerbeerGiacomo MeyerbeerGiacomo Meyerbeer was a noted German opera composer, and the first great exponent of "grand opera." At his peak in the 1830s and 1840s, he was the most famous and successful composer of opera in Europe, yet he is rarely performed today.-Early years:He was born to a Jewish family in Tasdorf , near...
), premiere 1831: 751 perf.; last in 1892; revived in 1984. - Gustave IIIGustave III (opera)Gustave III, ou Le bal masqué is an opéra historique or grand opera in five acts by Daniel Auber, with a libretto by Eugène Scribe.-Performance history:...
(Auber), premiere 1833: 168 perf.; last in 1853 - La JuiveLa JuiveLa Juive is a grand opera in five acts by Fromental Halévy to an original French libretto by Eugène Scribe; it was first performed at the Opéra, Paris, on February 23, 1835.-Composition history:...
(Fromental HalévyFromental HalévyJacques-François-Fromental-Élie Halévy, usually known as Fromental Halévy , was a French composer. He is known today largely for his opera La Juive.-Early career:...
), premiere 1835: 534 perf., last in 1934; revived in 2007. - Les HuguenotsLes HuguenotsLes Huguenots is a French opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer, one of the most popular and spectacular examples of the style of grand opera. The opera is in five acts and premiered in Paris in 1836. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps....
(Meyerbeer), premiere 1836: 1120 perf.; last in 1936. - StradellaStradella (opera)Stradella is a Grand Opera in five acts by Louis Niedermeyer to a libretto by Emile Deschamps and Emilien Pacini. Based on a highly romanticized version of the life of the composer Alessandro Stradella , it was premiered at the Paris Opéra on 3 March 1837.-Background:The storyline of the opera is...
(NiedermeyerLouis NiedermeyerAbraham Louis Niedermeyer was a composer chiefly of church music but also of a few operas, and a teacher who took over the Ecole Choron, duly renamed École Niedermeyer, a school for the study and practice of church music, where several eminent French musicians studied including Gabriel Fauré and...
), premier 1837, last performed (in 3-act form) in 1840. - Guido et GinevraGuido et GinevraGuido et Ginevra, ou La Peste de Florence is a grand opera in five acts by Fromental Halévy to a libretto by Eugène Scribe...
(Halévy), premiere 1838, revived in 1840 in 4-act form, revived again in 1870. - Le lac des féesLe lac des féesLe lac des fées is a grand opera in five acts composed by Daniel Auber to a French libretto by Eugène Scribe and Mélésville . The story is set in the Harz Mountains and based on a German ballad. The opera premiered at the Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique in Paris on 1 April 1839...
(Auber), premiere 1839: 30 perf. - La favoriteLa favoriteLa favorite is an opera in four acts by Gaetano Donizetti to a French-language libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz, based on the play Le comte de Comminges by Baculard d'Arnaud...
(originally titled L'ange de Nisida) (DonizettiGaetano DonizettiDomenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
), premier 1840. - Les martyrs (French version of PoliutoPoliutoPoliuto is a tragedia lirica, or tragic opera, by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian libretto after Pierre Corneille's play Polyeucte . It was composed in 1838 and first performed on 30 November 1848 at the Teatro San Carlo, Naples...
) (DonizettiGaetano DonizettiDomenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
), premiere 1840: 20 perf.; last in 1842. - La reine de ChypreLa reine de ChypreLa reine de Chypre is an 1841 grand opera composed by Fromental Halévy to a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges.-Background:...
(Halévy), premiere 1841 152 perf.; last in 1878. - Charles VICharles VI (opera)Charles VI is an 1843 French grand opera in five acts with music composed by Fromental Halevy and a libretto by Casimir Delavigne and his brother Germain Delavigne.-Performance history:...
(Halévy), premiere 1843 61 perf.; last in 1850. - Dom SebastienDom SébastienDom Sébastien, Roi de Portugal is a French grand opera in five acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe, based on Paul Foucher's play Don Sébastien de Portugal , a historic-fiction about King Sebastian of Portugal and his ill-fated 1578 expedition to Morocco...
(Donizetti), premiere 1843: 33 perf.; last in 1849. - Marie StuartMarie Stuart (opera)Marie Stuart is a grand opera in five acts composed by Louis Niedermeyer to a libretto by Théodor Anne loosely based on events in the life of Mary, Queen of Scots...
(Niedermeyer), premiere 1844, last perf. in 1846, revived in 2002. - JérusalemJérusalemJérusalem is a grand opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, set to a French libretto by Alphonse Royer and Gustave Vaëz which was partly translated and adapted from Verdi's original 1843 Italian opera, I Lombardi alla prima crociata...
(VerdiGiuseppe VerdiGiuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
), premiere 1847: 20 perf.; last in 1849. - Le prophèteLe prophèteLe prophète is an opera in five acts by Giacomo Meyerbeer. The French-language libretto was by Eugène Scribe.-Performance history:...
(Meyerbeer), premiere 1849: 573 perf.; last in 1912. - L'enfant prodigueL'Enfant prodigueL'Enfant prodigue was the first feature-length motion picture produced in Europe, running 90 minutes. Directed by Michel Carré, fils from his own three-act stage pantomime, the film was basically an unmodified record, filmed at Gaumont studio in May 1907...
(Auber), premiere 1850 - Les vêpres siciliennesLes vêpres siciliennesLes vêpres siciliennes is an opéra in five acts by the Italian romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi set to a French libretto by Charles Duveyrier and Eugène Scribe from their work Le duc d'Albe, which was written in 1838 and offered to Halevy and Donizetti before Verdi...
(Verdi), premiere 1855: 81 perf.; last in 1864. - La reine de SabaLa reine de SabaLa reine de Saba is a grand opera in four or five acts by Charles Gounod to a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré inspired by Gérard de Nerval's Le voyage en Orient...
(GounodCharles GounodCharles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
), premiere 1862: 15 perf.; last in 1862. - L'AfricaineL'AfricaineL'africaine is a grand opera, the last work of the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer. The French libretto was written by Eugène Scribe. The opera is about fictitious events in the life of the real historical person Vasco da Gama...
(Meyerbeer), premiere 1865: 484 perf.; last in 1902. - Don CarlosDon CarlosDon Carlos is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French language libretto by Camille du Locle and Joseph Méry, based on the dramatic play Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien by Friedrich Schiller...
(Verdi), premiere 1867: 81 perf.; last in 1864. - HamletHamlet (opera)Hamlet is an opéra in five acts by the French composer Ambroise Thomas, with a libretto by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier based on a French adaptation by Alexandre Dumas, père and Paul Meurice of Shakespeare's play Hamlet.- Ophelia mania in Paris:...
(ThomasAmbroise ThomasCharles Louis Ambroise Thomas was a French composer, best known for his operas Mignon and Hamlet and as Director of the Conservatoire de Paris from 1871 till his death.-Biography:"There is good music, there is bad music, and then there is Ambroise Thomas."- Emmanuel Chabrier-Early life...
), premiere 1868: 384 perf.; last in 1938. - Le roi de LahoreLe roi de LahoreLe roi de Lahore is an opera in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet. It was first performed at the Palais Garnier in Paris on 27 April 1877....
(MassenetJules MassenetJules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas...
), premiere 1877: 57 perf.; last in 1879. - PolyeuctePolyeucte (opera)Polyeucte is an opéra by Charles Gounod based on the play about Saint Polyeuctus by Pierre Corneille. The libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré is more faithful to its source than Les martyrs, Scribe's adaptation for Donizetti, and Gounod hoped to express "the unknown and irresistable...
(Gounod), premiere 1878: 29 perf.; last in 1879. - Henry VIIIHenry VIII (opera)Henry VIII is an opera in four acts by Camille Saint-Saëns, from a libretto by Léonce Détroyat and Armand Silvestre, based on El cisma en Inglaterra by Pedro Calderón de la Barca.-Composition history:...
(Saint-SaënsCamille Saint-SaënsCharles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
), premiere 1883: 87 perf.; last in 1919. - Le cidLe Cid (opera)Le Cid is an opera in four acts and ten tableaux by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet, Édouard Blau and Adolphe d'Ennery. It is based on the play of the same name by Pierre Corneille....
(Massenet), premiere 1885: 152 perf.; last in 1919. - Patrie! (PaladilheEmile PaladilheÉmile Paladilhe was a French composer of the late romantic period.-Biography:Émile Paladilhe was born in Montpellier. He was a musical child prodigy, and moved from his home in the south of France to Paris to begin his studies at the Conservatoire de Paris at age 10...
), premiere1886: 93 perf.; last in 1919.