Don César de Bazan is an opéra comique in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Adolphe d'Ennery, Philippe-François Pinel "Dumanoir" and Jules Chantepie, based on the play by d'Ennery and Dumanoir, which was first performed at Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in 1844. This in turn drew on the popular character of Don César de Bazan, in the 1838 drama Ruy Blas by Victor Hugo, though it has little connection with the plot of Hugo's drama. Massenet's opera was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 30 November 1872. It was the first full-length opera by Massenet to be produced, the one-act La grand'tante having been mounted five years earlier by the same company. Don César de Bazan was not a success and it would be another five years, with the premiere of Le roi de Lahore in 1877, before Massenet rose to his place among the most prominent composers of his time. Don César de Bazan was initially performed 13 times at the Opéra-Comique. After the fire at the Salle Favart when the parts were lost, Massenet constructed a new version from the vocal score, and this was performed in Geneva in 1888, then Antwerp, Brussels, the French provinces and the Gaîté-Lyrique in 1912, and the Hague in 1925. The orchestral Entr'acte to Act 3, entitled 'Sévillana', was in 1895 adapted as a showpiece for solo coloratura soprano, to words specially written by Jules Ruelle ("À Séville, Belles Señoras"). Though this song is still regularly performed, it does not form part of the operatic score. A modern revival took place in several French cities in 2016, when the Frivolités Parisiennes staged a new production including an appearance at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin, conducted by Mathieu Romano. Roles Synopsis Act 1 King Charles II of Spain is enamoured of Maritana, a street singer, whom he cannot approach because of her gypsy birth and low station. His chief minister Don José de Santarém promises to help his master win her love. Don César, Count de Bazan, a poor but witty and good-hearted Spanish grandee, fights a duel to save the boy Lazarille from imprisonment by a cruel army captain. Since a royal edict forbids duelling during Holy Week, Don César is arrested and condemned to death by hanging. Act 2 In his prison cell, Don César is visited by Don José. The latter is