La mort d'Abel

La mort d'Abel (The Death of Abel) is an opera by the French composer Rodolphe Kreutzer. The libretto, by François-Benoît Hoffman, deals with the Biblical story of Cain and Abel. It was first performed in a three-act version at the Salle Montansier by the Académie Impériale de Musique (the Paris Opéra) on 23 March 1810 under the title Abel. A revival at the Salle Le Peletier in 1823, in which the second act was cut, impressed the young Hector Berlioz.

La mort d'Abel was one of a number of French operas and oratorios on Biblical themes to appear in the first decades of the 19th century. This fashion was inspired by a performance of Haydn's The Creation at the Paris Opéra in 1800. Examples of the genre include Kalkbrenner's staged oratorios Saul and La prise de Jéricho, Lesueur's La mort d'Adam and, most famously, Méhul's Joseph (1807).

The French Emperor Napoleon did not share the enthusiasm for putting Bible stories on stage, regarding any potential offence to religious sensibilities as a threat to the understanding he had reached with the Catholic Church. The only reason he allowed the premiere of La mort d'Abel to go ahead was because so much money had already been spent on rehearsals. However, he warned the superintendent of the Opéra, "Henceforth, no opera shall be given without my order."

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