Cléopâtre: Cleopatra Vocal Score

Cl op tre is an opera in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Payen. It was first performed at the Op ra de Monte-Carlo on 23 February 1914, nearly two years after Massenet's death. The story concerns the ill-fated love of Cl op tre and Marc-Antoine. Marc-Antoine sees Cl op tre for the first time following the conquering of Egypt and is instantly entranced by her beauty. Dismissing his obligations in Rome, Marc-Antoine goes with Cl op tre, and even after returning to fulfill his promise of marriage to Octavia, he is lured back by lust and jealousy. Being told, falsely, that Cl op tre has been killed, Marc-Antoine falls on his own sword and is then brought to Cl op tre. As she watches him die by her side, she pulls a poisonous snake from a basket of fruit and clutches it to her breast.