Déjanire
Music by Camille Saint-Saëns · libretto by Camille Saint-Saëns · premiered 1911 · at Opéra de Monte-Carlo
Déjanire is the title of two related French works by Camille Saint-Saëns: Musique de scène pour ‘Déjanire’ de Gallet (1898) and the four-act opera, or drame lyrique, Déjanire (1910, premiered 1911) for which Saint-Saëns himself fashioned the dramatic scheme and libretto using Gallet's tragedy as a basis. The vocal writing in the musique de scène is exclusively choral in the manner of Ancient Greek narration and commentary, while in the drame lyrique it focuses on solo parts as in most operas. The musique de scène was written to inaugurate an arena in Béziers; the drame lyrique, last of Saint-Saëns' twelve operas, was written for Monaco. The latter's libretto has, besides Gallet, Sophocles' Trachiniae as a source, a main character being Hercule, in the path of Händel; Hercules had already been the subject of two Saint-Saëns tone poems: Le rouet d'Omphale (1869) and La jeunesse d'Hercule (1877).
Text from the Wikipedia article "Déjanire", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
About the Composer
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (UK: , US: , French: [ʃaʁl kamij sɛ̃sɑ̃(s)] 9 October 1835 – 16 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Second Piano Concerto (1868), the First Cello Concerto (1872), Danse macabre (1874), the opera Samson and Delilah (1877), the Third Violin Concerto (1880), the Third ("Organ") Symphony (1886) and The Carnival of the Animals (1886). Saint-Saëns was a musical prodigy; he made his concert debut at the age of ten. After studying at the Paris Conservatoire he followed a conventional career as a church organist, first at Saint-Merri, Paris…
Text from the Wikipedia article "Camille Saint-Saëns", licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Other Operas by Camille Saint-Saëns
- Henry VIII (1627)
- Ascanio (1852)
- Hélène (1904)
- L'ancêtre (1905)