A contemplation of love caught between the polar opposites of joy and despair and Marquis de Sade's novels Justine and Juliette, in which hope of a virtuous life is abandoned for the destructive pursuit of pleasure. The opera premiered in 1965 in Palermo with soprano Cathy Berberian, who portrayed the titular characters from two novels by the Marquis de Sade, Justine and Juliette. Recorder at Théâtre Bernadette Lafont of Nimes.