Amadis
In ancient Brittany, the brothers Amadis and Galaor are separated at birth. Amadis kills Galaor in a duel over Floriane, then recognizes his brother from matching magic stones given to both by their dying mother.
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In ancient Brittany, the brothers Amadis and Galaor are separated at birth. Amadis kills Galaor in a duel over Floriane, then recognizes his brother from matching magic stones given to both by their dying mother.
Ariane and her sister Phèdre both love Theseus, but he chooses Phèdre. After Phèdre is killed by a falling statue of Adonis, Ariane visits the underworld and persuades Perséphone to restore her sister. Theseus again chooses Phèdre and abandons Ariane on Naxos, where sirens lure the grieving woman into the sea.
In ancient India, the gods appear in human form to challenge the spread of Buddhism. Ariane follows Bacchus, believing him to be Theseus, the man she loves. She sacrifices herself to save humanity, and Bacchus becomes a god.
Cendrillon longs to attend the prince’s ball; the Fairy Godmother prepares her, warning that the magic ends at midnight. She meets and falls in love with the prince, then flees at midnight. Later, the Fairies bring them together under an enchanted oak, and after the prince recognizes her among the princesses trying on the glass slipper, they are reunited.
After receiving his military commission, Chérubin flirts with the Countess and Spanish dancer L’Ensoleillad while his maid Nina loves him. A love letter nearly gets him killed. At an inn, he seduces L’Ensoleillad and serenades her, but the Countess and Baroness each think the song is for her, provoking duels with their husbands. Chérubin clarifies the misunderstanding; when Nina plans to enter a convent, he realizes he truly loves her and persuades her to stay.
Marc-Antoine becomes infatuated with Cléopâtre after Rome conquers Egypt. He abandons his Roman obligations, returns to Octavie, then is drawn back to Cléopâtre. Deceived into believing she has died, he wounds himself; she brings him to her side and dies by a poisonous snakebite.
King Charles II desires Maritana, a street singer, but cannot approach her because of her low birth. Don César de Bazan is sentenced to death for duelling to protect Lazarille. Don José arranges for Maritana to marry Don César before his execution, hoping to use her as a means to gain the queen’s love. After the execution, Lazarille reveals that he removed the bullets, and Don César is alive. He prevents the king from forcing himself on Maritana, kills Don José to protect the queen’s honour, and is appointed governor of Granada.
Don Quichotte sets out with Sancho Panza to recover a pearl necklace stolen from Dulcinée by a bandit chief. After mistaking windmills for giants and winning the bandits’ respect, he returns the necklace, but Dulcinée declines his proposal of marriage. As he dies, he gives Sancho an imagined island as his reward.
Esclarmonde, empress and sorceress of Byzantium, secretly meets Roland and gives him a magic sword to defend Blois, provided he remains faithful. After Roland reveals their meetings, monks tear away her veil and the sword shatters; she disappears. Her father later forces her to renounce Roland, but Roland wins a tournament in disguise, and they recognize each other and are acclaimed together.
The Marquis marries Grisélidis, leaving her former suitor Alain heartbroken. As he departs on Crusade, the Devil wagers that he can make Grisélidis unfaithful. Disguised, he presents the Marquis’s ring as proof of rejection, conjures a garden to tempt her with Alain, and steals her son Loÿs. On returning, the Marquis recognizes the Devil’s deception and reunites with his wife; the child is restored.
In Jerusalem, Salomé searches for her absent mother and loves the prophet Jean. King Hérode is also in love with Salomé, while his wife Hérodiade wants Jean punished for insulting her. Jean is arrested and refuses to help Hérode against Rome. Hérode condemns Jean and Salomé to death after she rejects him. After Jean is executed, Salomé asks Hérodiade to let her die too. Hérodiade’s silence enrages Salomé, who tries to kill her; the queen reveals she is Salomé’s mother, and Salomé stabs herself.
A four-act French opera based on a novella by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch.
Music by Jules Massenet, with the original orchestration by Leighton Lucas. Act I – Paris; Scene 1 – The courtyard of an inn near Paris; The courtyard at the inn is frequented by actresses, gentlemen and the demimonde from Paris. Among them are des Grieux, a young student, the wealthy Monsieur GM, and Lescaut, who is there to meet his sister Manon on her way to enter a convent. A coach arrives bringing Manon and an old gentleman who has been very much attracted to her. Lescaut notices this and takes the gentleman into the inn to come to an arrangement with him over Manon. Manon remains outside and meets des Grieux. They fall in love and decide to escape to Paris with the help of the money that she has stolen from the old gentleman. Lescaut and the old gentleman come out of the inn, having made a bargain, and to their dismay see that Manon has disappeared. Monsieur GM tells Lescaut that he too is interested in Manon and because of this wealth Lescaut promises to find Manon and persuade her to accept GM. Scene 2 – Des Grieux's lodgings in Paris; Des Grieux is writing a letter to his father but Manon interrupts by declaring her love for him. Des Grieux goes to post the letter and in his absence Lescaut arrives with Monsieur GM. Manon yields to GM's advances and when des Grieux returns, Lescaut persuades him that there will be great wealth for all of them if he, des Grieux, will sanction the liaison between Manon and GM. Act II; Scene 1 – A party at the hotel particulier of Madame; Manon arrives at the party given by Monsieur GM and is clearly torn between the wealth of her companion and her love for des Grieux, who is also there with Lescaut. Des Grieux tries to persuade Manon to leave with him but she tells him that the time is not right and only will be when he takes more of Monsieur GM's money at cards. Des Grieux is caught cheating and he and Manon rush away. Scene 2 – Des Grieux's lodgings; Manon and des Grieux once again declare their love for one another but Monsieur GM arrives with the police and Manon is arrested as a prostitute. In the ensuing struggle Lescaut is killed. Act III – New Orleans; Scene 1 – The port; The gaoler of the penal colony awaits the arrival of the convicts from France. Manon has been deported to America as a prostitute and des Grieux has followed her there by pretending to be her husband. The gaoler now turns his interest towards Manon. Scene 2 – The gaoler's room; The gaoler has arrested Manon but offers her rewards in the hope that she will desert des Grieux and live with him. Des Grieux, however, breaks in and kills the gaoler. Scene 3 – The swamp; Manon and des Grieux have escaped into the swamp of Louisiana. All her former ambitions of wealth and splendour have been renounced for her love for des Grieux. While eluding their pursuers, Manon collapses and dies in his arms.
Anita offers to assassinate an enemy commander to earn the dowry demanded by her beloved Araquil’s father. She succeeds, but Araquil dies before learning why she went to the enemy camp; on discovering the truth, he dies, and Anita loses her sanity.
After returning from military service in Africa, Guy de Kerdrel claims an inheritance from a great-uncle he never met. He learns that the widow Alice had burned an unsigned will leaving the estate to her, allowing Guy to inherit. Guy has fallen in love with Alice and gives her the great-uncle’s portrait as a keepsake. A signed version of the will is found hidden in its frame; Alice doubts Guy’s honesty, but he leaves her the property and promises to return.
Rodrigue kills Chimène’s father to avenge an insult to his own father, then leads the king’s forces against the Moors. Believed dead after battle, he returns victorious; Chimène finally pardons him and declares her love.
The Persian general Zarastra loves the captive Turanian queen Anahita, while Varedha loves Zarastra. After the high priest Amrou engineers Zarastra’s banishment, Anahita refuses a forced marriage, a revolt destroys the city, and Zarastra and Anahita are reunited while Varedha dies.
Jean, a traveling juggler, joins a monastery after the prior sees his remorse over performing a profane song. Though he feels unable to offer the Virgin a fitting gift, he performs his juggling and dance before her statue. The statue comes to life and blesses him; Jean dies as it ascends, while the monks and angels sing.
Des Grieux disapproves of his nephew Jean’s love for Aurore, but Tiberge persuades him to reconsider. A portrait of Manon leads to the discovery that Aurore is Manon’s niece, and Des Grieux consents to the young couple’s marriage.
In eleventh-century Lahore, priestess Sita loves King Alim, but Scindia, the king’s minister, also desires her. Scindia arranges an ambush and usurps the throne after Alim is mortally wounded. The god Indra restores Alim’s soul to life as a humble man for as long as Sita lives. Scindia plans to marry Sita, but Alim reaches Indra’s sanctuary and reunites with her. Sita stabs herself to escape Scindia; Alim becomes a spirit again, and the lovers are united in paradise.
On her way to a convent, Manon meets the Chevalier des Grieux and elopes with him to Paris. After his father has des Grieux abducted, Manon leaves with the wealthy de Brétigny. Later she learns des Grieux has become an abbé and persuades him to return to her. They reunite and gamble together, but Guillot accuses des Grieux of cheating; he is arrested, while Manon is condemned to deportation. Des Grieux is released and tries to rescue her, but she is too ill to escape. In his arms, Manon recalls their past happiness and dies.
Panurge claims his wife Colombe has died, but she appears and reveals she faked her death to escape his drunken abuse. He flees with Pantagruel to the Abbey of Thélème, where he pursues Ribaude and pretends not to recognize Colombe. Colombe follows and disguises herself as a monk and later a Bacchic oracle. She tells Panurge he will find her if he drinks less and stops beating her. He rejoins her, and the company celebrates.
After the Battle of Cannae, Fausta allows the sacred fire at the Temple of Vesta to go out. Facing the punishment of being buried alive, she returns to Rome to accept her fate. Her blind grandmother Posthumia gives her Fabius’s dagger, but when the executioners bind Fausta’s hands, Posthumia kills her to spare her the burial and atone for the sacrilege.
Fanny Legrand, known as Sapho, begins a relationship with the young Jean Gaussin. Jean learns about Fanny’s past, including a child from an earlier relationship, and leaves her. After Jean returns to his family, Fanny visits but departs alone; later, when he returns to their former home and offers to sacrifice his prospects for her, she quietly leaves while he sleeps.
The ascetic monk Athanaël returns to Alexandria to convert Thaïs, a courtesan and devotee of Venus, whom he remembers from his youth. His wealthy friend Nicias is Thaïs’s lover. Athanaël urges her to abandon her former life; after resisting, she agrees to join him in the desert and enter a convent. At the convent, Athanaël realizes that he has become consumed by desire for her. Learning that Thaïs is dying, he rushes to her bedside and confesses his love, while she dies believing she is entering heaven.
During the French Revolution, Thérèse is married to Girondist André but still loves the exiled nobleman Armand. Armand returns and hides at André’s château. When André is arrested and taken to the guillotine, Thérèse has agreed to flee with Armand, but turns back and cries “Vive le roi!” She is arrested and accompanies her husband to execution.
In July, the Bailiff’s children rehearse a Christmas carol as Charlotte prepares to attend a ball. Werther meets Charlotte and falls in love with her, but she has promised her dying mother to marry Albert. Three months later, Charlotte and Albert are married. Werther, unable to accept Charlotte’s request that he leave, returns on Christmas Eve. As Charlotte and Werther confess their love, she sends him away. Werther borrows Albert’s pistols and shoots himself. Charlotte reaches him too late; he dies after she declares her love.
In ancient Brittany, the brothers Amadis and Galaor are separated at birth. Amadis kills Galaor in a duel over Floriane, then recognizes his brother from matching magic stones given to both by their dying mother.
Ariane and her sister Phèdre both love Theseus, but he chooses Phèdre. After Phèdre is killed by a falling statue of Adonis, Ariane visits the underworld and persuades Perséphone to restore her sister. Theseus again chooses Phèdre and abandons Ariane on Naxos, where sirens lure the grieving woman into the sea.
In ancient India, the gods appear in human form to challenge the spread of Buddhism. Ariane follows Bacchus, believing him to be Theseus, the man she loves. She sacrifices herself to save humanity, and Bacchus becomes a god.
Cendrillon longs to attend the prince’s ball; the Fairy Godmother prepares her, warning that the magic ends at midnight. She meets and falls in love with the prince, then flees at midnight. Later, the Fairies bring them together under an enchanted oak, and after the prince recognizes her among the princesses trying on the glass slipper, they are reunited.
After receiving his military commission, Chérubin flirts with the Countess and Spanish dancer L’Ensoleillad while his maid Nina loves him. A love letter nearly gets him killed. At an inn, he seduces L’Ensoleillad and serenades her, but the Countess and Baroness each think the song is for her, provoking duels with their husbands. Chérubin clarifies the misunderstanding; when Nina plans to enter a convent, he realizes he truly loves her and persuades her to stay.
Marc-Antoine becomes infatuated with Cléopâtre after Rome conquers Egypt. He abandons his Roman obligations, returns to Octavie, then is drawn back to Cléopâtre. Deceived into believing she has died, he wounds himself; she brings him to her side and dies by a poisonous snakebite.
King Charles II desires Maritana, a street singer, but cannot approach her because of her low birth. Don César de Bazan is sentenced to death for duelling to protect Lazarille. Don José arranges for Maritana to marry Don César before his execution, hoping to use her as a means to gain the queen’s love. After the execution, Lazarille reveals that he removed the bullets, and Don César is alive. He prevents the king from forcing himself on Maritana, kills Don José to protect the queen’s honour, and is appointed governor of Granada.
Don Quichotte sets out with Sancho Panza to recover a pearl necklace stolen from Dulcinée by a bandit chief. After mistaking windmills for giants and winning the bandits’ respect, he returns the necklace, but Dulcinée declines his proposal of marriage. As he dies, he gives Sancho an imagined island as his reward.
Esclarmonde, empress and sorceress of Byzantium, secretly meets Roland and gives him a magic sword to defend Blois, provided he remains faithful. After Roland reveals their meetings, monks tear away her veil and the sword shatters; she disappears. Her father later forces her to renounce Roland, but Roland wins a tournament in disguise, and they recognize each other and are acclaimed together.
The Marquis marries Grisélidis, leaving her former suitor Alain heartbroken. As he departs on Crusade, the Devil wagers that he can make Grisélidis unfaithful. Disguised, he presents the Marquis’s ring as proof of rejection, conjures a garden to tempt her with Alain, and steals her son Loÿs. On returning, the Marquis recognizes the Devil’s deception and reunites with his wife; the child is restored.
In Jerusalem, Salomé searches for her absent mother and loves the prophet Jean. King Hérode is also in love with Salomé, while his wife Hérodiade wants Jean punished for insulting her. Jean is arrested and refuses to help Hérode against Rome. Hérode condemns Jean and Salomé to death after she rejects him. After Jean is executed, Salomé asks Hérodiade to let her die too. Hérodiade’s silence enrages Salomé, who tries to kill her; the queen reveals she is Salomé’s mother, and Salomé stabs herself.
A four-act French opera based on a novella by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch.
Music by Jules Massenet, with the original orchestration by Leighton Lucas. Act I – Paris; Scene 1 – The courtyard of an inn near Paris; The courtyard at the inn is frequented by actresses, gentlemen and the demimonde from Paris. Among them are des Grieux, a young student, the wealthy Monsieur GM, and Lescaut, who is there to meet his sister Manon on her way to enter a convent. A coach arrives bringing Manon and an old gentleman who has been very much attracted to her. Lescaut notices this and takes the gentleman into the inn to come to an arrangement with him over Manon. Manon remains outside and meets des Grieux. They fall in love and decide to escape to Paris with the help of the money that she has stolen from the old gentleman. Lescaut and the old gentleman come out of the inn, having made a bargain, and to their dismay see that Manon has disappeared. Monsieur GM tells Lescaut that he too is interested in Manon and because of this wealth Lescaut promises to find Manon and persuade her to accept GM. Scene 2 – Des Grieux's lodgings in Paris; Des Grieux is writing a letter to his father but Manon interrupts by declaring her love for him. Des Grieux goes to post the letter and in his absence Lescaut arrives with Monsieur GM. Manon yields to GM's advances and when des Grieux returns, Lescaut persuades him that there will be great wealth for all of them if he, des Grieux, will sanction the liaison between Manon and GM. Act II; Scene 1 – A party at the hotel particulier of Madame; Manon arrives at the party given by Monsieur GM and is clearly torn between the wealth of her companion and her love for des Grieux, who is also there with Lescaut. Des Grieux tries to persuade Manon to leave with him but she tells him that the time is not right and only will be when he takes more of Monsieur GM's money at cards. Des Grieux is caught cheating and he and Manon rush away. Scene 2 – Des Grieux's lodgings; Manon and des Grieux once again declare their love for one another but Monsieur GM arrives with the police and Manon is arrested as a prostitute. In the ensuing struggle Lescaut is killed. Act III – New Orleans; Scene 1 – The port; The gaoler of the penal colony awaits the arrival of the convicts from France. Manon has been deported to America as a prostitute and des Grieux has followed her there by pretending to be her husband. The gaoler now turns his interest towards Manon. Scene 2 – The gaoler's room; The gaoler has arrested Manon but offers her rewards in the hope that she will desert des Grieux and live with him. Des Grieux, however, breaks in and kills the gaoler. Scene 3 – The swamp; Manon and des Grieux have escaped into the swamp of Louisiana. All her former ambitions of wealth and splendour have been renounced for her love for des Grieux. While eluding their pursuers, Manon collapses and dies in his arms.
Anita offers to assassinate an enemy commander to earn the dowry demanded by her beloved Araquil’s father. She succeeds, but Araquil dies before learning why she went to the enemy camp; on discovering the truth, he dies, and Anita loses her sanity.
After returning from military service in Africa, Guy de Kerdrel claims an inheritance from a great-uncle he never met. He learns that the widow Alice had burned an unsigned will leaving the estate to her, allowing Guy to inherit. Guy has fallen in love with Alice and gives her the great-uncle’s portrait as a keepsake. A signed version of the will is found hidden in its frame; Alice doubts Guy’s honesty, but he leaves her the property and promises to return.
Rodrigue kills Chimène’s father to avenge an insult to his own father, then leads the king’s forces against the Moors. Believed dead after battle, he returns victorious; Chimène finally pardons him and declares her love.
The Persian general Zarastra loves the captive Turanian queen Anahita, while Varedha loves Zarastra. After the high priest Amrou engineers Zarastra’s banishment, Anahita refuses a forced marriage, a revolt destroys the city, and Zarastra and Anahita are reunited while Varedha dies.
Jean, a traveling juggler, joins a monastery after the prior sees his remorse over performing a profane song. Though he feels unable to offer the Virgin a fitting gift, he performs his juggling and dance before her statue. The statue comes to life and blesses him; Jean dies as it ascends, while the monks and angels sing.
Des Grieux disapproves of his nephew Jean’s love for Aurore, but Tiberge persuades him to reconsider. A portrait of Manon leads to the discovery that Aurore is Manon’s niece, and Des Grieux consents to the young couple’s marriage.
In eleventh-century Lahore, priestess Sita loves King Alim, but Scindia, the king’s minister, also desires her. Scindia arranges an ambush and usurps the throne after Alim is mortally wounded. The god Indra restores Alim’s soul to life as a humble man for as long as Sita lives. Scindia plans to marry Sita, but Alim reaches Indra’s sanctuary and reunites with her. Sita stabs herself to escape Scindia; Alim becomes a spirit again, and the lovers are united in paradise.
On her way to a convent, Manon meets the Chevalier des Grieux and elopes with him to Paris. After his father has des Grieux abducted, Manon leaves with the wealthy de Brétigny. Later she learns des Grieux has become an abbé and persuades him to return to her. They reunite and gamble together, but Guillot accuses des Grieux of cheating; he is arrested, while Manon is condemned to deportation. Des Grieux is released and tries to rescue her, but she is too ill to escape. In his arms, Manon recalls their past happiness and dies.
Panurge claims his wife Colombe has died, but she appears and reveals she faked her death to escape his drunken abuse. He flees with Pantagruel to the Abbey of Thélème, where he pursues Ribaude and pretends not to recognize Colombe. Colombe follows and disguises herself as a monk and later a Bacchic oracle. She tells Panurge he will find her if he drinks less and stops beating her. He rejoins her, and the company celebrates.
After the Battle of Cannae, Fausta allows the sacred fire at the Temple of Vesta to go out. Facing the punishment of being buried alive, she returns to Rome to accept her fate. Her blind grandmother Posthumia gives her Fabius’s dagger, but when the executioners bind Fausta’s hands, Posthumia kills her to spare her the burial and atone for the sacrilege.
Fanny Legrand, known as Sapho, begins a relationship with the young Jean Gaussin. Jean learns about Fanny’s past, including a child from an earlier relationship, and leaves her. After Jean returns to his family, Fanny visits but departs alone; later, when he returns to their former home and offers to sacrifice his prospects for her, she quietly leaves while he sleeps.
The ascetic monk Athanaël returns to Alexandria to convert Thaïs, a courtesan and devotee of Venus, whom he remembers from his youth. His wealthy friend Nicias is Thaïs’s lover. Athanaël urges her to abandon her former life; after resisting, she agrees to join him in the desert and enter a convent. At the convent, Athanaël realizes that he has become consumed by desire for her. Learning that Thaïs is dying, he rushes to her bedside and confesses his love, while she dies believing she is entering heaven.
During the French Revolution, Thérèse is married to Girondist André but still loves the exiled nobleman Armand. Armand returns and hides at André’s château. When André is arrested and taken to the guillotine, Thérèse has agreed to flee with Armand, but turns back and cries “Vive le roi!” She is arrested and accompanies her husband to execution.
In July, the Bailiff’s children rehearse a Christmas carol as Charlotte prepares to attend a ball. Werther meets Charlotte and falls in love with her, but she has promised her dying mother to marry Albert. Three months later, Charlotte and Albert are married. Werther, unable to accept Charlotte’s request that he leave, returns on Christmas Eve. As Charlotte and Werther confess their love, she sends him away. Werther borrows Albert’s pistols and shoots himself. Charlotte reaches him too late; he dies after she declares her love.