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 |