Thaïs, Massenet's tenth completed opera, had its première at the Paris Opéra on 16 March 1894 with the American soprano Sibyl Sanderson in the title role. The libretto by Louis Gallet was based on Anatole France's novel of the same name, serialized in the Revue des deux mondes in 1889 and published in book form the following year.The story tells of the conversion to Christianity of the courtesan Thaïs by the holy man Athanael, and his parallel but opposite conversion to a life dominated by lust ...