The Saracen (Сарацин in Cyrillic, Saracin in transliteration), is an opera by César Cui composed during 1896-1898. The libretto was written by Vladimir Vasilievich Stasov and the composer, based on a play by Alexandre Dumas (père) entitled Charles VII chez ses grands vassaux. The opera was premiered on 2 November 1899 (Old Style), in Saint Petersburg at the Mariinsky Theatre, with Eduard Nápravník as conductor. It was staged also in 1902 by the M...
more
The Saracen (Сарацин in Cyrillic, Saracin in transliteration), is an opera by César Cui composed during 1896-1898. The libretto was written by Vladimir Vasilievich Stasov and the composer, based on a play by Alexandre Dumas (père) entitled Charles VII chez ses grands vassaux. The opera was premiered on 2 November 1899 (Old Style), in Saint Petersburg at the Mariinsky Theatre, with Eduard Nápravník as conductor. It was staged also in 1902 by the Moscow Private Opera at the Solodovnikov Theatre, but never became part of the standard operatic repertoire.
The Saracen can be understood to some extent as a sequel to Tchaikovsky's opera The Maid of Orleans in that later events involving the same French monarch are involved.
The action takes place in France of the early 15th-century, in the castle of Count Savoisy.
Act I. A chorus of archers makes merry while the Count is away. When André shows everyone the stag that he has just killed, Yaqoub relates a story about how he as a boy in Egypt...
less
