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Ascanio is a grand opera in five acts and seven Tableau vivant by composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The opera's French libretto, by Louis Gallet, is based on the 1852 play Benvenuto Cellini by French playwright Paul Meurice which was in turn based on the 1843 historical novel by Alexandre Dumas, père. The name was changed to Ascanio to avoid confusion with the Hector Berlioz opera Benvenuto Cellini. The opera premiered on March 21, 1890, at the Paris Opera in Paris, in costumes designed by Charles Bianchini and sets by Jean-Baptiste Lavastre and Eugène Carpezat (acts I; II, scene 2; and III), Auguste Alfred Rubé and Philippe Chaperon and Marcel Jambon (act II, scene 1).
The opera premiered at the Palais Garnier in Paris in 1890 to a poor reception. George Bernard Shaw, after attending the premiere, remarked "I need not waste my words on the music of it. There is not an original phrase in it from beginning to end."Dubal, (2001) The work did not see a revival until 1921, the year of Saint-Saëns' death; however, a section of the ballet music is a popular excerpt for flute players.
This opera concerns the historical figure of 16th-century Italian sculpture Benvenuto Cellini during the time he spent at the court of François I in Fontainebleau and Paris.
Cellini and apprentice Ascanio are both madly in love with Colombe, daughter of the Provost of Paris. This arouses the jealousies of two women: Scozzone, who herself is in love with Cellini, and the Duchess who is an admirer of Ascanio. Cellini steps aside to let Ascanio pursue Colombe, but when he realises that the jealousy of the two spurned women may prove dangerous to the girl, he hides her in a reliquary he has designed for a local convent, and plans on having her taken there for safety. However, the Duchess uncovers this plan and has the reliquary diverted to her own estate, planning on letting the girl suffocate in it. However, Scozzone secretly took the place of Colombe when she regretted having been originally a part of the Duchess's plot.
Meanwhile, Cellini has asked the King to allow the wedding of Ascanio and Colombe as a reward for his latest artistic masterpiece. The King has agreed. This happy news, however, is overshadowed by the sad discovery that Scozzone has suffocated and died in Colombe's place.
| Benvenuto Cellini | baritone | Jean-Louis Lassalle |
| Ascanio | tenor | Émile Cossira |
| François I | bass | Pol Plançon |
| Charles V | bass | Eugène Bataille |
| Duchesse d'Étampes | soprano | Ada Adini |
| Scozzone | contralto | Rosa BosmanThe rol was arranged for soprano when Alphonsine Richard, the mezzo soprano preferred for Saint-Saëns, left the company. |
| D'Estourville | tenor | Gallois |
| Colombe d'Estourville | soprano | Emma Eames |
| D'Orbec | tenor | Tequi |
| Pagolo | bass | Crépeaux |
| A beggar | baritone | Jean Martapoura |
| Ursulines | soprano | Nastorg |
| Lady Périne | mute | |
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