About the work
Drame lyrique in three acts by Gabriel Fauré to a libretto by René Fauchois, based on the closing part of Homer's "Odyssey". It premiered on 4 March 1913 at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, followed on 10 May 1913 by the Paris premiere, which Fauré himself regarded as the more significant one, at the newly opened Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.
Plot
For years Pénélope has fended off the suitors courting her by claiming she must first finish weaving a shroud, which she secretly unravels every night. Her husband Ulysse, believed dead, returns disguised as a beggar and is recognised by the old nurse Euryclée; at a contest the suitors stage over Ulysses' bow, only the beggar manages to string the weapon, whereupon he kills the suitors and reveals himself to Pénélope.
Cultural significance
Pénélope was Fauré’s only full-length opera, written over almost five years alongside his work as director of the Paris Conservatoire, and dedicated to Camille Saint-Saëns. With its continuous, through-composed music and recurring leitmotifs, it was seen as Fauré’s personal response to Wagner, but was overshadowed within weeks of its Paris premiere by the scandal surrounding Stravinsky’s "Rite of Spring" at the same theatre.