''Salammbô'' is an

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

in five acts composed by

Ernest Reyer Louis Étienne Ernest Reyer (1 December 1823 – 15 January 1909) was a French opera composer and music critic. Biography Ernest Reyer was born in Marseille. His father, a notary, did not want his son to take up a career in music. However, he d ...

to a French

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

Camille du Locle Camille du Locle (16 July 18329 October 1903) was a French theatre manager and a librettist. He was born in Orange, France. From 1862 he served as assistant to his father-in-law, Émile Perrin, at the Paris Opéra. From 1870, he was co-dire ...

. It is based on the homonymous novel by

Gustave Flaubert Gustave Flaubert ( , ; ; 12 December 1821 – 8 May 1880) was a French novelist. He has been considered the leading exponent of literary realism in his country and abroad. According to the literary theorist Kornelije Kvas, "in Flaubert, realis ...

(1862). Initially refused by Paris, Reyer's opera enjoyed its first performance at the

Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie The Royal Theatre of La Monnaie (, ; , ; both translating as the "Royal Theatre of the Mint") is an opera house in central Brussels, Belgium. The National Opera of Belgium, a federal institution, takes the name of this theatre in which it is ho ...

in Brussels, on 10 February 1890, with sets designed by Pierre Devis and Armand Lynen. The Parisian premiere at the

Palais Garnier The (, Garnier Palace), also known as (, Garnier Opera), is a historic 1,979-seatBeauvert 1996, p. 102. opera house at the Place de l'Opéra in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was built for the Paris Opera from 1861 to 1875 at the ...

took place on 16 May 1892 with costumes by Eugène Lacoste and sets by

Eugène Carpezat Eugène Louis Carpezat (Paris, 4 November 1833 – Paris, 26 February 1912) was an acclaimed French scenographer in the Belle Époque. Career Carpezat was the son of lemonade makers Claude François Carpezat and Jacqueline Caniou. After conside ...

(Acts I and V),

Auguste Alfred Rubé Auguste Alfred Rubé (20 June 1817 – 13 April 1899) was a French painter noted especially for his theatre decorations. Biography Born in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, Rubé was an innovator in the field of theatrical set design. This "dec ...

and

Philippe Chaperon Philippe Chaperon (2 February 1823 – 21 December 1906) was a French painter and scenic designer, particularly known for his work at the Paris Opera. He produced stage designs for the premieres of numerous 19th-century operas, including Verdi's ...

(Act II), and Amable and Eugène Gardy (Act IV). The American premiere was at the French Opera House in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

on 25 January 1900 with Lina Pacary in the title role. It was first performed in New York at the 'old' Metropolitan Opera House on 20 March 1901, with Lucienne Bréval in the title role, Albert Saléza, Eustase Thomas-Salignac, Marcel Journet, Charles Gillibert, Eugène Dufriche, and Antonio Scotti with Luigi Mancinelli conducting. Portions of the opera were performed in 1906 in the ancient Roman

Carthage amphitheatre The Carthage Amphitheatre was a Roman amphitheatre constructed in the first century CE in the city of Carthage, Tunisia, which was rebuilt by Dictator Julius Caesar and became the capital of Africa Proconsularis. Predation plaguing the archaeolog ...

during an event sponsored by the Carthage Institute, making it among the first pieces formally staged there since the structure was destroyed by the

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vand ...

in AD 439. This rarely nowadays performed opera received the last performance at the

Paris Opera The Paris Opera ( ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be kn ...

in 1943, and the most recent one in Marseilles on 27 September 2008, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Reyer's death.''Salammbô'', Opéra de Marseille, 9-27-08 Opera News The Met Opera Guild, accessed 20 April 2010
/ref>

Roles

Setting

*Place:

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

*Time: 240 BC

Other opera adaptations

In 1863,

Modest Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (; ; ; – ) was a Russian composer, one of the group known as "The Five (composers), The Five." He was an innovator of Music of Russia, Russian music in the Romantic music, Romantic period and strove to achieve a ...

also started writing text and music for an opera based on Flaubert's novel, but he never managed to complete the work. Other versions were written by V. Fornari (1881), Niccolò Massa (1886), Eugeniusz Morawski-Dąbrowa,

Josef Matthias Hauer Josef Matthias Hauer (March 19, 1883 – September 22, 1959) was an Austrian composer and music theorist. He is best known for developing, independent of and a year or two before Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 Septembe ...

(1930), Alfredo Cuscinà (1931), Veselin Stoyanov (1940) and Franco Casavola (1948). Contemporary French composer Philippe Fénélon's ''Salammbô'' was first performed at the

Opéra Bastille The Opéra Bastille (, "Bastille Opera House") is a modern opera house in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, France. Inaugurated in 1989 as part of President François Mitterrand's '' Grands Travaux'', it became the main facility of the Paris N ...

in 1998.

References

;Notes ;Sources * *Pauline Girard, ‘Ernest Reyer et la Monnaie : un malentendu?’, in ''La Monnaie symboliste'', ed. Manuel Couvreur and Roland Van der Hoeven (Brussels: ULB, 2003), 52-81. *Warrack, John and West, Ewan (1992), ''The Oxford Dictionary of Opera'', 782 pages,

External links

* * Visual documentation of the Brussels premiere o
c.a.r.m.e.n.
* Visual documentation of the Parisian premiere o
Gallica
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salammbo (Reyer) Operas based on works by Gustave Flaubert Operas by Ernest Reyer French-language operas 1890 operas Operas Opera world premieres at La Monnaie Operas based on novels Operas set in Africa Works set in Carthage Works based on Salammbô

Roles

Setting

Other opera adaptations

See also

References

External links