- Saint-Saëns composed his opera Ascanio in 1887-8. It premiered at the Paris Opéra on March 21, 1890.1
- This opera was based on Paul Meurice’s play Benvenuto Cellini, which was itself an adaptation of the novel Benvenuto Cellini (1843) which Meurice had written in collaboration with Alexandre Dumas père.2
- Hector Berlioz also wrote an opera about the Italian renaissance sculptor Benvenuto Cellini, so this opera was entitled Ascanio to avoid confusion (Cellini is the main character of both).3
- Act III of Ascanio is a fête at the chateau of Fontainebleu, and it includes a dance divertissement reminiscent of French Baroque opera.4 This subject of this ballet-within-an-opera is the story of Cupid (“Amor”) and Psyche.5
Sources
- Daniel M. Fallon, Sabina Teller Ratner, and James Harding, “Saint-Saëns, (Charles) Camille,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed January 14, 2020, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000024335.
- Hugh Macdonald, “Ascanio,” Grove Music Online (2002), accessed January 14, 2020, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-5000900220.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Horst A. Scholz, liner notes to Aperitif: A French Collection, Sharon Bezaly, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Jean-Jacques Kantorow, BIS 1359, CD, 2002.
Cut IDs
17768, 42070