Sapho is a pièce lyrique in five acts. The music was composed by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Cain and Arthur Bernède, based on the novel (1884) of the same name by Alphonse Daudet. It was first performed on 27 November 1897 by the Opéra Comique at the Théâtre Lyrique on the Place du Châtelet in Paris with Emma Calvé as Fanny Legrand. A charming and effective piece, the success of which is highly dependent on the charisma of its lead soprano, it has never earned a place in the standard operatic repertory.
Poster by Jean de Paleologu for the premiere
Marguerite Carré
Mary Garden as Sappho
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer of the Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are Manon (1884) and Werther (1892). He also composed oratorios, ballets, orchestral works, incidental music, piano pieces, songs and other music.
Cabinet card of Massenet by Eugène Pirou, 1895
Massenet's birthplace in Montaud, photographed c. 1908
Massenet in the early 1860s
Auditorium of the Opéra-Comique