After a rocky start when it premiered in Paris in 1858, Gounod’s opera Faust became a success throughout Europe and led to five more operatic collaborations with the Faust’s libretto team, writers Barbier and Carré. The most famous of these was Roméo et Juliette.
Due to its familiar story and fortuitous debut during the 1867 Paris Exposition Universelle, Roméo et Juliette was an international hit for Gounod.1
At this time, according to Camille Saint-Saëns, Gounod was so popular that in France, “all women sang his songs, all young composers imitated his style.”2
