Mignon is an 1866 opéra comique in three acts by Ambroise Thomas. The original French libretto was by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Goethe's 1795-96 novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre. The Italian version was translated by Giuseppe Zaffira. The opera is mentioned in James Joyce's "The Dead" and Willa Cather's The Professor's House. Thomas's goddaughter Mignon Nevada was named after the main character.
Benjamin Louis Paul Godard was a French violinist and Romantic-era composer of Jewish extraction, best known for his opera Jocelyn. Godard composed eight operas, five symphonies, two piano and two violin concertos, string quartets, sonatas for violin and piano, piano pieces and etudes, and more than a hundred songs. He died at the age of 45 in Cannes (Alpes-Maritimes) of tuberculosis and was buried in the family tomb in Taverny in the French department of Val-d'Oise.
Salammbô is an opera in five acts composed by Ernest Reyer to a French libretto by Camille du Locle. It is based on the homonymous novel by Gustave Flaubert (1862). Initially refused by Paris, Reyer's opera enjoyed its first performance at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, on 10 February 1890, with sets designed by Pierre Devis and Armand Lynen. The Parisian premiere at the Palais Garnier took place on 16 May 1892 with costumes by Eugène Lacoste and sets by Eugène Carpezat, Auguste Alfred Rubé and Philippe Chaperon, and Amable and Eugène Gardy.
Sigurd is an opera in four acts and nine scenes by the French composer Ernest Reyer on a libretto by Camille du Locle and Alfred Blau. Like Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung, the story is based on the Nibelungenlied and the Eddas, with some crucial differences from the better known Wagnerian version. The whole opera can best be described as an epic with techniques of the grand opera.
Esclarmonde is an opéra in four acts and eight tableaux, with prologue and epilogue, by Jules Massenet, to a French libretto by Alfred Blau and Louis Ferdinand de Gramont. It was first performed at the Exposition Universelle on 15 May 1889 by the Opéra-Comique at the Théâtre Lyrique on the Place du Châtelet in Paris.
Where the Wild Things Are, Op. 20, is a fantasy opera in one act, nine scenes, by Oliver Knussen to a libretto by Maurice Sendak, based on Sendak's own 1963 children's book of the same title. Knussen composed the music from 1979 to 1983, on commission from the Opèra National, Brussels.
Œdipe à Colone is an operatic tragédie lyrique by Antonio Sacchini first performed at Versailles on 4 January 1786 in the presence of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The libretto, by Nicolas-François Guillard, is based on the play Oedipus at Colonus by Sophocles. The premiere, intended to inaugurate the new theatre at Versailles, was not a success, possibly due to the quality of the performances, the staging, or the acoustics. Marie Antoinette promised Sacchini a better production at Fontainebleau in the autumn, but the Affair of the Diamond Necklace meant she was unable to have her wish. The news that the production was cancelled is said to have hastened the death of the already seriously ill composer on October 9, 1786. Œdipe was given a posthumous performance by the Paris Opera at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin on February 1, 1787. This time the audience was warmly appreciative and the opera became one of the most popular pieces in the repertoire for several decades, reaching a total of almost 600 performances by 1844.
M. Choufleuri restera chez lui le... is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, in one act by Jacques Offenbach and the Duc de Morny. The French libretto is also credited to Morny, though Ludovic Halévy, Hector-Jonathan Crémieux, and Morny's secretary Ernest L'Épine probably contributed to the text as well.
Thorgrim is an opera in four acts with music by the British composer Frederic H. Cowen to a libretto by Joseph Bennett after the Icelandic tale "Viglund the Fair", first performed at the Drury Lane Theatre, London, on 22 April 1890. The premiere cast included the mezzo-soprano Zélie de Lussan and the tenor Barton McGuckin.
Antigone is an opera in three acts by Arthur Honegger to a French libretto by Jean Cocteau based on the tragedy Antigone by Sophocles. Honegger composed the opera between 1924 and 1927. It premiered on 28 December 1927 at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie with sets designed by Pablo Picasso and costumes by Coco Chanel.
Joseph Victor Amédée Capoul was a French operatic lyric tenor with a graceful singing style.
Maurice Frigara was a French conductor of Corsican descent, mainly active in the opera house.
Agustarello Affre was a French operatic tenor. He possessed a powerful, firm and exceptionally beautiful voice which garnered him the nickname the "French Tamagno" in comparison to the great Italian tenor. He was one of the leading operatic tenors in Paris from 1890 to 1911. He spent the last years of his career singing and directing operas in the United States. After World War I, he lived in retirement in France.
François Pierre Émile Engel was a French operatic tenor active on the stages of Brussels, Paris, Monte-Carlo and other European cities where he sang leading roles in several world premieres.
Éros vainqueur is an opera or conte lyrique in 3 acts and 4 scenes by composer Pierre de Bréville. The work uses a French language libretto by the poet and novelist Jean Lorrain and was dedicated by Bréville to composer Vincent d'Indy.
Jacques Isnardon was a French bass-baritone, writer and voice teacher.
Constance Jawureck (1803–1858) was a French mezzo-soprano opera singer.
Jean-Étienne-Auguste Massol was a French operatic tenor and later baritone who sang in the world premieres of many French operas.
Le songe d'une nuit d'été is an opéra-comique in three acts composed by Ambroise Thomas to a French libretto by Joseph-Bernard Rosier and Adolphe de Leuven. Although it shares the French title for Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream, its plot is not based on the play. Shakespeare himself is a character in the opera as are Elizabeth I and Falstaff.
