Chansons de Bilitis

As part of the Claude Debussy International Congress, the Sarah and Ernest Butler Opera Center presents the World Premiere performance of Robert Orledge’s orchestration of Claude Debussy’s Chansons de Bilitis first performed on March 17, 1900 by Blanche Marot with Debussy at the piano. Composed for voice and piano between 1897 and 1898, the songs are based on 143 poems and three epigraphs originally described as “translated from the Greek” by Pierre Louÿs, but were, in fact, composed by Louÿs himself. Highly sensual and Sapphic, the poems catalogue the life of Bilitis who Louÿs fictitiously described in his preface as “born at the beginning of the sixth century preceding our era, in a mountain village on the banks of the Melas forming the eastern boundary of Pamphylia”. Despite the deception (which was uncovered almost immediately), the poems were highly regarded and eventually set to music by many composers; some were even included in operas by Erlanger, Honegger, and Zandonai.

Cast   Alta Dantzler as Soloist

Director Robert DeSimone Conductor David Neely Scenic Design Christopher McCollum Light Design John Ore Costume Design Michaele Hite