Les Mamelles de Tirésias (The Breasts of Tiresias) is an opéra bouffe by Francis Poulenc, in a prologue and two acts based on the eponymous play by Guillaume Apollinaire. The opera was written in 1945 and first performed in 1947. Apollinaire's play, written in 1903, was revised with a sombre prologue by the time it premiered during World War I in France. For the opera, Poulenc incorporated both the farcical and the serious aspects of the original play, which according to one critic displays a "high-spirited topsy-turveydom" that conceals "a deeper and sadder theme – the need to repopulate and rediscover a France ravaged by war."

Original Name Les mamelles de Tirésias
Librettist Guillaume Apollinaire
Date of composition 1944
Premiered 1947, June 3rd
Dedicated to Darius Milhaud
Dedicated to Darius Milhaud avec trente ans d'amitié
Type Opera Buffa
Catalogue FP 125
Approx. duration 57 minutes
Spoken language French
Instruments Chorus/Choir - People of Zanzibar
Orchestra
Voice (Baritone) - Theatre director
Voice (Soprano) - Thérèse/Tirésias
Voice (Baritone) - Her husband
Voice (Tenor) - Monsieur Lacouf
Voice (Baritone) - Monsieur Presto
Voice (Baritone) - A gendarme
Voice (Mezzo-Soprano) - A newspaper vendor
Voice (Tenor) - A reporter from Paris
Voice (Tenor) - The son
Voice (Soprano) - An elegant lady
Voice (Mezzo-Soprano) - A woman
Voice (Bass) - A bearded gentleman
Links
Autotranslations beta Francis Poulenc: The Breasts of Tiresias, FP 125
Francis Poulenc: The Breasts of Tiresias, FP 125
Francis Poulenc: The Breasts of Tiresias, FP 125