Thaïs (Pronounced tah-eess / ta:'i:s) is an opera in three acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet based on the novel Thaïs by Anatole France. It was first performed at the Opéra Garnier in Paris on 16 March 1894, starring the American soprano Sybil Sanderson, for whom Massenet had written the title role. In 1907, the role served as Mary Garden's American debut in New York in the U.S. premiere performance.
Thaïs occurs in Egyp...
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Thaïs (Pronounced tah-eess / ta:'i:s) is an opera in three acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet based on the novel Thaïs by Anatole France. It was first performed at the Opéra Garnier in Paris on 16 March 1894, starring the American soprano Sybil Sanderson, for whom Massenet had written the title role. In 1907, the role served as Mary Garden's American debut in New York in the U.S. premiere performance.
Thaïs occurs in Egypt under Greek occupation, where a Cenobite monk, Athanaël, attempts to convert Thaïs, an Alexandrian courtesan, and devotée of Venus, to Christianity, but discovers, too late, that his obsession with her is rooted in lust; while the courtesan's true purity of heart is revealed, so is the religious man's baser nature. The work is about religious eroticism, and has had many controversial productions. Its famous Méditation for violin solo with harp and strings accompaniment, the entr'acte played between the scenes of Act II, is an oft-performed...
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