Les Troyens (in English:
The Trojans) is a French
grand opera in five acts by
Hector Berlioz. The
libretto was written by Berlioz himself from
Virgil's epic poem the
Aeneid; the score was composed between 1856 and 1858.
Les Troyens is Berlioz's most ambitious work, the summation of his entire artistic career, but he did not live to see it performed in its entirety. Under the title
Les Troyens à Carthage, the last three acts were premièred with many cuts by
Léon Carvalho's company, the
Théâtre Lyrique, at their theatre (now the
Théâtre de la Ville) on the Place du Châtelet in Paris on 4 November 1863, with 21 repeat performances.