Les Troyens

opera by Berlioz

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July 14, 2026

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Les Troyens is a monumental opera by Hector Berlioz, based on Virgil's Aeneid. It is a significant work within the tradition of French grand opera, characterized by its large scale, elaborate staging, and dramatic scope.1

The opera is divided into two parts: La Prise de Troie (The Capture of Troy) and Les Troyens à Carthage (The Trojans at Carthage). It tells the epic story of the Trojan War and the subsequent journey of Aeneas to found Rome.1

Berlioz's work draws inspiration from earlier French operatic traditions, particularly the works of Lully, Rameau, and Gluck, while also incorporating his own innovative musical language. The opera features extensive choral and ballet scenes, a rich orchestral score, and powerful dramatic moments, reflecting Berlioz's belief that music should be dramatically expressive.12

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Hector Berlioz
Mature career of Hector Berlioz
…I: the massive two-part drama Les Troyens (1855–58), based on Virgil’s story of Dido and Aeneas, and the short, witty comedy Béatrice et Bénédict, written between 1860 and 1862 and based on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. For all these Berlioz wrote his own librettos. He also wrote a Te…
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…I: the massive two-part drama Les Troyens (1855–58), based on Virgil’s story of Dido and Aeneas, and the short, witty comedy Béatrice et Bénédict, written between 1860 and 1862 and based on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. For all these Berlioz wrote his own librettos. He also wrote a Te…
Read More

opera
French grand opera
…monumental work for the stage, Les Troyens (“The Trojans”; his own libretto based on Virgil’s Aeneid), adopted the form of grand opera but also drew from older French operas by Jean-Baptiste Lully, Jean-Philippe Rameau, and Christoph Willibald Gluck, particularly in its faithful adherence to the text. Like Meyerbeer’s Huguenots, it…
Read More
…monumental work for the stage, Les Troyens (“The Trojans”; his own libretto based on Virgil’s Aeneid), adopted the form of grand opera but also drew from older French operas by Jean-Baptiste Lully, Jean-Philippe Rameau, and Christoph Willibald Gluck, particularly in its faithful adherence to the text. Like Meyerbeer’s Huguenots, it…
Read More