About the work
Lyric opera in three acts by Bohuslav Martinů, who wrote the French libretto himself after Georges Neveux's surrealist play "Juliette ou la clé des songes" (1930) and had it translated into Czech for the Prague premiere. It was first performed on 16 March 1938 at the Prague National Theatre under conductor Václav Talich.
Plot
Travelling book pedlar Michel returns to a coastal town where he once heard a woman named Juliette singing, but its inhabitants have lost their memories and live only in the present moment. His search for her draws him into increasingly dreamlike, time-scrambled encounters that blur memory, dream and reality.
Cultural significance
Neveux reportedly said he only truly understood his own play after hearing Martinů's music. The opera is now regarded as Martinů's operatic masterpiece and has been staged with growing frequency internationally since the 1990s, including productions at English National Opera (2012) and Berlin's Staatsoper (2016).