La Ville morte

After hearing her examinations at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1904, Pugno became Boulanger's teacher, collaborator and promotor.^[2] Some writers say that Pugno and Boulanger became lovers, while others do not.^[3] In 1909 they wrote a song cycle, Les heures claires, together.^[4] Work on the opera probably began in 1909 and was finished in 1912.^[5] Pugno died on 3 January 1914, before the opera could have its premiere. Opéra-Comique had finished casting by July 1914, and choir rehearsals were scheduled to start on 17 August that same year when the outbreak of World War I disrupted all plans.^[6] With many echoes of Pelléas et Mélisande, the story follows the lives and loves of an archeologist, Léonard, his sister Hebé, Alexandre, a colleague, and his wife Anne, amidst the ruins of Mycenae.^[7]

A fully orchestrated version of the opera has not survived.^[8] The opera was reconstructed from surviving scores by Mauro Bonifacio and had its world premiere at the 2005 Chigiana festival in Siena.^[9] It was performed for the second time in a concert staging by Mia Nerenius, using screens and projections, in March 2020 at the Gothenburg Opera.^[7][10]

A chamber version (with some scenes cut and without chorus) co-produced by Greek National Opera and Catapult Opera (the successor to Gotham Chamber Opera^[11]) was presented in Athens in January 2024 and New York in April 2024, conducted by Neal Goren.^[12] This is the first and only fully staged production of the piece.