Gismonda (Février)

{{Short description|1919 opera by Henry Février}}

{{Infobox opera

| name = Gismonda

| type = Grand opera

| composer = Henry Février

| image = Georges Rochegrosse - Henry Février - Henri Cain and Louis Payen after Victorien Sardou - Gismonda.jpg

| image_upright = 1.3

| caption = Poster for the first performance in Paris at the Opéra-Comique on 15 October 1919.[https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb42304399z Catalogue record for the poster], Bibliothèque nationale de France

| librettist = {{ubl| Henri Caïn | Louis Payen }}

| language = French

| based_on = {{based on|Gismonda|Victorien Sardou}}

| premiere_date = {{Start date|1919|01|14|df=y}}

| premiere_location = Chicago

}}

Gismonda is a 1919 French-language grand opera in three acts by Henry Février to a libretto by Henri Caïn and Louis Payen based on the 1894 play Gismonda by Victorien Sardou. The planned premiere in Paris was halted by the outbreak of World War I but the composer was given leave from the French army to premiere the opera with Mary Garden in the title role with the Chicago Opera Association on 14 January 1919.{{cite book|title=Mary Garden|author=Michael Turnbull|year=1997|publisher=Ashgate|isbn=9781859282632|page=134|quote=Fevrier, although a serving member of the French army, had been granted leave by his government to come to Chicago with Mary to conduct his opera Gismonda. Gismonda{{'}}s premiere had been halted by the outbreak of war.}}{{cite book |last1=Cohen |first1=H. Robert |last2=Gigou |first2=Marie-Odile |title=Cent ans de mise en scène lyrique en France (env. 1830-1930) |publisher=Pendragon Press|year=1968|isbn=978-0-918728-69-2|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=m3rhQP-Ij7EC&pg=PA107 107]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m3rhQP-Ij7EC|language=fr}}{{Almanacco|dmy=14 January 1919|match=Gismonda}} Février was also present when the production was then shown in New York City at Loew's Lexington Theatre (demolished in 1960, now a hotel) on January 27 that year.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1919/01/26/archives/two-new-french-operas-tiger-tiger-cries-gismonda-the-harvester-as.html|title=Two New French Operas|date=26 January 1919|newspaper=The New York Times}} ([https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1919/01/26/97064031.pdf Article PDF]) It premiered in Paris at the Opéra-Comique on 15 October of the same year.{{Almanacco|dmy=15 October 1919|match=Gismonda}}