| Title: | Saint François d'Assise |
| English title: | Saint Francis of Assisi |
| Genre: | opera |
| Composition Date: | 1975-1979 |
| Publisher: | Leduc (Paris) |
| Instrumentation: | Chorus: S, S, M-S, A, A, T, T, Bar, B, B (15 voices per part, 150 total); Orchestra: 7.4.8.4, 6.4.3.3, 5 idiophones, 5 percussion, 3 ondes martenots, 16.16.14.12.10 |
| Duration: | Act I - 80 minutes, Act II - 120 minutes, Act III - 60 minutes |
| Premiere: | 28 November 1983, Paris Opéra (José van Dam (Saint François); Michel Philippe (Frère Léon); Kenneth Riegel (Le Lépreux); Christiane Eda-Pierre (L'ange), (Frère Massée), (Frère Elie), (Frère Bernard), (Frère Sylvestre), (Frère Rufin); Chorus and Orchestra of the Paris Opéra; Seiji Ozawa, conductor; Scènes Franciscaines: Soloists: Saint François (baritone, Frère Léon (baritone), Le Lépreux (tenor), Frère Massée (tenor), Frère Elie (tenor), Frère Bernard (bass), Frère Sylvestre (bass), Frère Rufin (bass) [L'ange ??]); produced by Sandro Sequi; designed by Giuseppe Crisolini-Malateste) |
| Dedication: | Unknown |
| Movements: |
- Act I, Scene 1: La Croix [The Cross]
- Act I, Scene 2: Les Laudes [The Praises]
- Act I, Scene 3: Le baiser au lépreux [The Kissing of the Lepers]
- Act II, Scene 4: L'ange voyager [The Traveling Angel]
- Act II, Scene 5: L'ange musicien [The Angel of Music]
- Act II, Scene 6: Le prêche aux oiseaux [The Preaching to the Birds]
- Act III, Scene 7: Les stigmates [The Stigmata]
- Act III, S cene 8: La mort et la nouvelle vie [The Death and the New Life]
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| Notes: |
- The libretto was completed in June 1976, during a visit to Assisi and Florence; Messiaen visited the tomb of St. Francis and several of the locations in which the opera's scenes were set.
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| Program notes: | |
