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In 1539 Paris, sculptor Benvenuto Cellini and his apprentice Ascanio love Colombe, while Scozzone loves Cellini and the Duchess admires Ascanio. Cellini steps aside for the young couple and hides Colombe in a reliquary to protect her from the Duchess’s jealousy. The Duchess diverts it to her estate, intending to suffocate Colombe, but Scozzone secretly takes Colombe’s place. The king approves Ascanio and Colombe’s marriage, but Scozzone is found dead.
Cinq-Mars loves Princess Marie de Gonzague, who is promised in marriage to the King of Poland. After hearing of the planned match, he enters a conspiracy of French nobles against Cardinal Richelieu, who refuses to approve his marriage to Marie. Cinq-Mars joins the plot despite De Thou’s warning against involving Spain. He and Marie exchange wedding vows, but a spy reports the conspiracy to Father Joseph. Joseph tells Marie that Cinq-Mars will be executed for treason unless she agrees to the Polish match. She capitulates, but Cinq-Mars is still condemned. In prison, Marie reveals that Joseph deceived her and admits she has always loved Cinq-Mars. De Thou’s escape plan fails when the execution is moved forward, and Cinq-Mars and De Thou pray before being led to the gallows.
Haroun, a caliph who claims to love no woman, plans to replace Djamileh, his current slave-girl lover. She disguises herself as a new dancer to test whether she can win his affection. Haroun recognizes her and finally admits his feelings, while his servant Splendiano loses his chance with her.
After Hercules kills King Eurytus and sacks Oechalia, he intends to marry the king’s daughter Iole. Iole loves Philoctetes, and agrees to marry Hercules to save her lover’s life. Phénice urges Hercules’s wife Déjanire to leave him, but she instead tries to win him back. When that fails, she gives Iole a tunic soaked in the blood of Nessus, believing it will restore an unfaithful lover. Iole gives it to Hercules on their wedding day; the poisoned tunic causes unbearable pain, and Hercules dies in the flames of the pyre before ascending to Olympus.
A five-act French drame lyrique based on Augustin Thierry’s accounts of the Merovingian period, featuring the queens Brunhilda and Frédégonde and King Hilpérik.
In Holland, Léna loves her cousin Kornélis, who is obsessed with Japan and a portrait of a Japanese woman named Ming. He drinks an opium potion and hallucinates that he is in Japan. Mistaking Léna for Ming, he declares his love, frightening her. After he wakes, Léna rebukes him for loving an imagined woman; he realizes his love for her and apologizes. They confess their feelings and reconcile.
An Arthurian opera about Lancelot by Victorin de Joncières.
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.
Angélique, adopted by Hubert and Hubertine, falls in love with Félicien, whose father is a bishop. The bishop refuses to let his son marry. Angélique falls gravely ill, but the bishop’s change of heart and prayer precede her recovery and reunion with Félicien.
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.
A five-act French grand opéra by Benjamin Godard to a libretto by Louis Gallet.
A four-act French drame lyrique based on Émile Zola’s short story, with the setting changed from the Franco-Prussian War to the French Revolution.
Gounod’s unfinished opera project about Pierre Abélard and Héloïse. The surviving description says Abélard is murdered at the end of Act 4 and his ghost visits Héloïse in the final act.
Set in 16th-century Brussels, the opera dramatizes a revolt of Flemish nobles. It adapts Victorien Sardou’s play of the same title.
A four-act French drame lyrique by Camille Saint-Saëns based on Auguste Vacquerie’s play, with a story set in Italy.
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.
Set in Paris in the first half of 1358 during the English captivity of King John II, the opera centers on Étienne Marcel, prévôt des marchands.
In 1539 Paris, sculptor Benvenuto Cellini and his apprentice Ascanio love Colombe, while Scozzone loves Cellini and the Duchess admires Ascanio. Cellini steps aside for the young couple and hides Colombe in a reliquary to protect her from the Duchess’s jealousy. The Duchess diverts it to her estate, intending to suffocate Colombe, but Scozzone secretly takes Colombe’s place. The king approves Ascanio and Colombe’s marriage, but Scozzone is found dead.
Cinq-Mars loves Princess Marie de Gonzague, who is promised in marriage to the King of Poland. After hearing of the planned match, he enters a conspiracy of French nobles against Cardinal Richelieu, who refuses to approve his marriage to Marie. Cinq-Mars joins the plot despite De Thou’s warning against involving Spain. He and Marie exchange wedding vows, but a spy reports the conspiracy to Father Joseph. Joseph tells Marie that Cinq-Mars will be executed for treason unless she agrees to the Polish match. She capitulates, but Cinq-Mars is still condemned. In prison, Marie reveals that Joseph deceived her and admits she has always loved Cinq-Mars. De Thou’s escape plan fails when the execution is moved forward, and Cinq-Mars and De Thou pray before being led to the gallows.
Haroun, a caliph who claims to love no woman, plans to replace Djamileh, his current slave-girl lover. She disguises herself as a new dancer to test whether she can win his affection. Haroun recognizes her and finally admits his feelings, while his servant Splendiano loses his chance with her.
After Hercules kills King Eurytus and sacks Oechalia, he intends to marry the king’s daughter Iole. Iole loves Philoctetes, and agrees to marry Hercules to save her lover’s life. Phénice urges Hercules’s wife Déjanire to leave him, but she instead tries to win him back. When that fails, she gives Iole a tunic soaked in the blood of Nessus, believing it will restore an unfaithful lover. Iole gives it to Hercules on their wedding day; the poisoned tunic causes unbearable pain, and Hercules dies in the flames of the pyre before ascending to Olympus.
A five-act French drame lyrique based on Augustin Thierry’s accounts of the Merovingian period, featuring the queens Brunhilda and Frédégonde and King Hilpérik.
In Holland, Léna loves her cousin Kornélis, who is obsessed with Japan and a portrait of a Japanese woman named Ming. He drinks an opium potion and hallucinates that he is in Japan. Mistaking Léna for Ming, he declares his love, frightening her. After he wakes, Léna rebukes him for loving an imagined woman; he realizes his love for her and apologizes. They confess their feelings and reconcile.
An Arthurian opera about Lancelot by Victorin de Joncières.
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.
Angélique, adopted by Hubert and Hubertine, falls in love with Félicien, whose father is a bishop. The bishop refuses to let his son marry. Angélique falls gravely ill, but the bishop’s change of heart and prayer precede her recovery and reunion with Félicien.
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.
A five-act French grand opéra by Benjamin Godard to a libretto by Louis Gallet.
A four-act French drame lyrique based on Émile Zola’s short story, with the setting changed from the Franco-Prussian War to the French Revolution.
Gounod’s unfinished opera project about Pierre Abélard and Héloïse. The surviving description says Abélard is murdered at the end of Act 4 and his ghost visits Héloïse in the final act.
Set in 16th-century Brussels, the opera dramatizes a revolt of Flemish nobles. It adapts Victorien Sardou’s play of the same title.
A four-act French drame lyrique by Camille Saint-Saëns based on Auguste Vacquerie’s play, with a story set in Italy.
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.
Set in Paris in the first half of 1358 during the English captivity of King John II, the opera centers on Étienne Marcel, prévôt des marchands.