About:Valentine de Milan

Valentine de Milan (Valentina of Milan) is an opera by the French composer Étienne Méhul with a libretto by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly. It takes the form of a drame lyrique in three acts. Méhul began work on the score in 1807, revising it in 1815, but it was left incomplete when he died in 1817. His nephew Joseph Daussoigne-Méhul finished the opera, adding five numbers, and it premiered at the Opéra-Comique, Paris on 28 November 1822, five years after Méhul's death. At the end of the performance, a bust of Méhul was brought on stage and crowned with flowers and laurel wreaths to the acclamation of the audience. The opera was a success and there were frequent performances until 1825, when it disappeared from the Opéra-Comique's repertory. Louis Spohr staged a German version in Kassel in 1824.