Charles Gounod is enthusiastic about the revival of "Sapho" at the opera.

Charles GOUNOD (1818.1893).

Autographed letter signed to the writer Émile Augier.

Three octavo pages on City of Paris letterhead.

Autographed address and postal markings.

Paris. March 26, 1858.

"We're going to revive our Sappho at the opera."

Enthusiastic about the planned revival by the Paris Opera of his first lyrical work, Sapho, Charles Gounod excitedly approached his friend, librettist Émile Augier, to revise their piece originally created in 1851.

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"My dear Emile, We are going to revive our Sapho at the opera. Launched as you are, at full speed, in the honors of eternal youth, I do not know if you will attach to this revival the same importance as I do: it is not probable - but the return to my first and one of my dearest productions flatters me in a way more than the opportunity to write a new work: it is a mark of retrospective esteem, an unexpected and unhoped-for exhumation which, I believe, can give this work a place which it has not had time to take in the opinion of the public.  

But, as we have to present with our play the new ballet by Th. Gautier and [Ernest]Reyer, it is essential that, by some suppressions, we bring the play back to new and more restricted proportions : i.e. that we make of the last two acts a single one which will have 2 scenes: the 1st^scene will consist of what we keep from the 2nd^act , and our old third act would make the 2nd^scene .  

The opera must not last more than two hours. Would you like to meet, either at your place or mine, to discuss this revision? Please reply as soon as possible. Yours truly, Ch. Gounod.

It would be Miss^[ Désirée] Artôt who would take on the role of Sappho – she's a student of Mrs.^Viardot , which says it all.

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Sapho is the first opera by Charles Gounod, with a libretto by Émile Augier, created at the Paris Opera on April 16, 1851. Pauline Viardot plays the title role.

Despite the composer's hopes, the work had a very brief run and was discontinued after only nine performances.

In 1858, the situation was unusual: Gounod was still experiencing a difficult period at the Opéra. Faust had just been postponed, and his other projects were not coming to fruition. The Opéra management therefore offered him the chance to revive Sapho. Gounod welcomed this offer with genuine enthusiasm. However, the work had to be reworked to make room for the new ballet scheduled for the same evenings, Sacountala by Ernest Reyer with a libretto by Théophile Gautier.

Emile Augier and Gounod undertook these revisions, and the second version of Sapho, in two acts, was finally created on July 26, 1858, with the young Belgian mezzo-soprano Désirée Artôt (1835-1907) as Sapho. Like its first version, this Sapho was a failure and only ran for about ten performances.

The composer Ernest Reyer offered a scathing critique: “Upon my return from Dijon, I attended the revival of Sapho, an opera in three acts, which now only has two. This beautiful score had to be shortened so that it could serve as a curtain-raiser for the new ballet, and clever scissors have been at work, cutting through the most beautiful pages of the piece. The question is whether it is better to leave a score in oblivion than to bring it out mutilated and unrecognizable. To be performed or not to be performed, that is the question.”

In 1884, Gounod undertook a major new revision, this time in four acts, premiered at the Palais Garnier, with Gabrielle Krauss in the role of Sappho. Gounod himself conducted the first performance. This final version of 1884 was performed 29 times until December 29, 1884.