''Cléopâtre'' is an opera in four acts by

Jules Massenet Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are ''Manon'' (1884 ...

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 ...

by Louis Payen. It was first performed at the

Opéra de Monte-Carlo The Opéra de Monte-Carlo is an opera house which is part of the Monte Carlo Casino located in the Monaco, Principality of Monaco. With the lack of cultural diversions available in Monaco in the 1870s, Charles III, Prince of Monaco, Prince Charl ...

on 23 February 1914, nearly two years after Massenet's death. ''Cléopâtre'' is one of three operas by Massenet to be premiered posthumously; the others are ''

Panurge Panurge (from , used to mean "knave, rogue") is one of the principal characters in ''Gargantua and Pantagruel'', a series of five novels by François Rabelais. Especially important in the third and fourth books, he is an exceedingly crafty knave, ...

'' (1913) and '' Amadis'' (1922). The piece has seen limited revival since its premiere and has a modest modern recording history.

Performance history

Though the opera was written for the mezzo

Lucy Arbell Lucy Arbell (''née'' Georgette Gall, later Georgette Wallace) (8 June 1878 – 21 May 1947) was a French mezzo-soprano whose operatic career was mainly centred in Paris and who was particularly associated with the composer Jules Massenet. Lif ...

, the role of Cléopâtre was created by the soprano Maria Nikolaevna Kuznetsova. The Chicago Opera Association presented the first American performance on 10 January 1916 with Kuznetsova. The first

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

performance was on 23 January 1919 with

Mary Garden Mary Garden (20 February 1874 – 3 January 1967) was a Scottish-American operatic lyric soprano, then mezzo-soprano, with a substantial career in France and America in the first third of the 20th century. She spent the latter part of her chil ...

. It was revived at the

Massenet Festival Massenet Festival is a wikt:biennale, biennale festival of music by French composer, Jules Massenet held in Saint-Étienne, France, close to the area where the composer was born. The first Massenet Festival took place in November 1990 when the ope ...

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

in 1990 conducted by

Patrick Fournillier Patrick Fournillier (born 26 December 1954 in Neuilly-sur-Seine) is a French conductor, particularly associated with opera and with the works of Jules Massenet. He studied in Paris with Louis Fourestier and Pierre Dervaux, then in Strasbourg ...

with

Kathryn Harries Kathryn Harries (15 February 1951 – 26 May 2023) was a British operatic soprano. She taught at Kingston Polytechnic (now Kingston University). For several years she worked as a presenter for Music Time beginning in 1977. Harries made her op ...

in the title role. This production yielded a live recording (on two CDs) issued by Koch Schwann. New York saw a revival of ''Cléopâtre'' on June 26, 1997 by Opera Manhattan at Alice Tully Hall with Marion Capriotti in the title role (having filled in for Florence Quivar at the last minute), conducted by Gabriel Guimarães. In 2004, a concert version was performed at the

Liceu The Gran Teatre del Liceu (; ; ), or simply Liceu, is a theater in Barcelona, Spain. Situated on La Rambla, it is the city's oldest theater building still in use for its original purpose. Founded in 1837 at another location, the Liceu ope ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

with

Montserrat Caballé María de Montserrat Bibiana Concepción Caballé i Folch or Folc (12 April 1933 – 6 October 2018), also known as Montserrat Caballé (i Folch), was a Spanish operatic soprano from Catalonia. Widely considered to be one of the best sopranos ...

. A concert performance conducted by

Vladimir Fedoseyev Vladimir Ivanovich Fedoseyev (; born 5 August 1932, in Leningrad, Soviet Union) is a Soviet and Russian conductor, accordionist, teacher. People's Artist of the USSR (1980). Laureate of the USSR State Prize (1989) and the Glinka State Prize of ...

as part of the

Salzburg Whitsun Festival The Salzburg Whitsun Festival (), at times branded as Whitsun+Baroque () or Salzburg Festival Whitsun (), is a classical music and opera festival held every year in Salzburg, Austria over Pentecost (Whitsun) weekend in late May or early June. ...

2012 featured

Sophie Koch Sophie Koch (born 19 February 1969) is a French operatic mezzo-soprano who made an international career, performing Rosina in Rossini's '' Il barbiere di Siviglia'' at the Royal Opera House, the Composer in ''Ariadne auf Naxos'' by Richard Stra ...

in the title role,

Ludovic Tézier Ludovic Tézier (born 1968 in Marseille) is a French operatic baritone. Biography Ludovic Tézier trained at the Paris Opéra’s École d’Art lyrique and at the Centre National d’Artistes Lyriques. He was a prize winner at Operalia, The ...

as Marc-Antoine and

Véronique Gens Véronique Gens (born 19 April 1966) is a French operatic soprano. She has spent much of her career recording and performing Baroque music, Baroque music. Gens was born in Orléans, France, and studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, winning fir ...

as Octavie.

Rodney Milnes Rodney Milnes Blumer OBE (26 July 1936 – 5 December 2015) was an English music critic, musicologist, writer, translator and broadcaster, with a particular interest in opera.Rodney Milnes. ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera''. Macmillan, ...

described the opera as "enjoyable, emotionally vigorous Massenet in his grand opera manner", and noted that "by this stage of his career (1912) the composer wasted little time with

grand opera Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterized by large-scale casts and Orchestra, orchestras. The original productions consisted of spectacular design and stage effects with plots normally based on o ...

trappings - he gets through the plot (including obligatory ballet) in under two hours", while pointing out "the simplicity, the superb word-setting impress the most, as well as the clarity with which he delineates the opposing sound-worlds - sinuous

chromaticism Chromaticism is a compositional technique interspersing the primary diatonic scale, diatonic pitch (music), pitches and chord (music), chords with other pitches of the chromatic scale. In simple terms, within each octave, diatonic music uses o ...

for Egypt, near-

Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

ian noblesse for Rome".Milnes, Rodney. Opera on disc - Cléopâtre, Massenet. ''

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 ...

'', February 1994, Vol.45 No.2, p248.

Roles

Synopsis

The story concerns the ill-fated love of

Cléopâtre ''Cléopâtre'' is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Payen. It was first performed at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo on 23 February 1914, nearly two years after Massenet's death. ''Cléopâtre'' is one of three o ...

and Marc-Antoine. Marc-Antoine sees Cléopâtre for the first time following the conquering of Egypt and is instantly entranced by her beauty. Dismissing his obligations in Rome, Marc-Antoine goes with Cléopâtre, and even after returning to fulfill his promise of marriage to Octavia, he is lured back by lust and jealousy. Being told, falsely, that Cléopâtre has been killed, Marc-Antoine falls on his own sword and is then brought to Cléopâtre. As she watches him die by her side, she pulls a poisonous snake from a basket of fruit and clutches it to her breast.

Noted arias

* Act 3 – Cléopâtre: "J'ai versé le poison dans cette coupe d'or"

References

Notes

External links

Libretto

CD recording
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleopatre Operas 1914 operas French-language operas Operas by Jules Massenet Opera world premieres at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo Operas set in ancient Egypt Depictions of Cleopatra in opera Cultural depictions of Augustus