MASSENET, Jules 1842-1912

Sapho Piéce Lyrique en Cinq Actes d'Après le Roman de Alphonse Daudet Paroles de MM. Henri Cain et Bernède ... Partition Chant et Piano Prix net: 20 francs. [Piano-vocal score].

Paris: Au Ménestrel, Heugel & Cie. [H. & Cie. 18648], [1909].

Folio. Original publisher's ivory wrappers with embossed rose, yellow, green, and silver floral decorative device to upper left portion. 1f. (recto facsimile manuscript dedication, verso decorative device), 1f. (recto title within decorative frame printed in colour, verso decorative device), [i] (notes on performances and named cast lists), [ii] (contents), [i] (decorative device), 227, [i] (blank) pp.

Named cast for the first performance includes Calvé, Wyns, Guiraudon, Leprestre, Marc Nohel, Gresse, Jacquet, and Dufour; and for the reprise Marguerite Carré, Raveau, Teyte, Salignac, J. Périer, Delvoye, Cazenueve, and Belhomme.

Wrappers slightly worn, with light soiling and small chips and tears; minor loss to head and tail of spine; partially detached. Occasional wear to outer edges; small price handstamp to lower margin of dedication leaf; small circular publisher's handstamp to lower margin of fourth leaf.

First Edition, later issue.

Sapho, to a libretto by Cain and A. Bernède after A. Daudet, was first performed in Paris at the Opéra-Comique on 27 November 1897, under the direction of M. Léon Carvalho, and reprised on 22 January 1909, under the direction of M. Albert Carré.

"In Sapho Massenet made his first attempt at an opera in a modern setting ... Sapho is certainly one of Massenet’s finest works, but it has been unaccountably neglected. It exists in both an original and a revised version."

"[Massenet] was the most prolific and successful composer of opera in France at the end of the 19th century and into the beginning of the 20th." Annegret Fauser, Patrick Gillis and Hugh Macdonald in Grove Music Online.

Item #29921

Price: $120.00  other currencies