page_title: Médée (Cherubini)
section_title: Performances and versions
hierarchical_section_title: Médée (Cherubini) / Performances and versions
caption_attribution_description: English: Title page to a vocal score of the 1909 hybrid version of Médée, a French language opéra-comique by Luigi Cherubini.
context_page_description: Médée is a French language opéra-comique by Luigi Cherubini. The libretto by François-Benoît Hoffman was based on Euripides' tragedy of Medea and Pierre Corneille's play Médée. It is set in the ancient city of Corinth.
  The opera was premiered on 13 March 1797 at the Théâtre Feydeau, Paris. It met with a lukewarm reception and was not immediately revived. During the twentieth century, it was usually performed in Italian translation as Medea, with the spoken dialogue replaced by recitatives not authorized by the composer. More recently, opera companies have returned to Cherubini's original version.
  The long-lost final aria, which Cherubini appears to have elided from his original manuscript, was discovered by researchers from the University of Manchester and Stanford University by employing x-ray techniques to reveal the blackened out areas of Cherubini's manuscript.
context_section_description: Several versions of the opera were produced and staged in Italian and German:
  1800: German translation by Karl Alexander Herklots was premiered in Berlin on 17 February 1800
  1802: Another German translation by Georg Friedrich Treitschke was premiered in Vienna on 6 November 1802.
  1809: The shortened version of the Treitschke translation was given in Vienna, where Cherubini produced a version which omitted some 500 bars of music
  1855: Franz Lachner's German version was given in Frankfurt.  This was based on the shortened Vienna version, but with recitatives composed by Lachner which replaced the spoken dialogue.
  1865: The United Kingdom premiere was given in Italian at Her Majesty's Theatre on 6 June, with recitatives by Luigi Arditi, and Thérèse Tietjens in the title role. Cherubini's son and grandson were among the audience. This performance received a highly enthusiastic review in The Times.
   
  1909: The Italian translation of the Lachner version by Carlo Zangarini was prepared for its Italian premiere at the Teatro alla Scala, on 30 December 1909, and starred Ester Mazzoleni.  It was this hybrid version that was revived in 1953 for Maria Callas.
caption: Title page to a vocal score of the 1909 hybrid version.
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