Don César de Bazan
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Don César de Bazan is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Adolphe d'Ennery, Jean Henri Dumanoir and Jules Chantepie, based on the drama Ruy Blas by Victor Hugo. It was first performed at the Opéra Comique in Paris on November 30, 1872.
It was the first full-length opera by Massenet to be professionally produced, the one-act La grand'tante having been produced five years earlier by the same company. Don César de Bazan was not a success and it would be another five years, with the premiere of Le roi de Lahore in 1877, before Massenet rose to his place among the most prominent composers of his time. Don César does not have a modern performance history and contains but one extractable piece that is performed with any frequency, the Sevillana for coloratura soprano.
