Template:POTD/2022-03-10
Thérèse is an opera in two acts by Jules Massenet to a French-language libretto by Jules Claretie. Set during the French Revolution, the plot concerns Thérèse, who is torn between duty and affection, between her husband André Thorel, a Girondist, and her lover, the nobleman Armand de Clerval. Although she had decided to follow her lover into exile, when her husband is being led to execution she shouts Vive le roi! (Long live the king!) amid the frenzied crowd and is dragged to her husband's side and marched to the guillotine. The opera first performed in Monte Carlo in 1907, and is among Massenet's lesser-known works. This poster was produced for the 1907 Paris premiere of Thérèse at the Opéra-Comique, and features the mezzo-soprano Lucy Arbell in the title role.Poster credit: unknown; restored by Adam Cuerden