Skip to the content
- 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.
- 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.”
