La Fille de Madame Angot.
[Opera bouffe, in three acts; text by Clairville, Sirandin, and Konig. First produced at the Fantasies Parisiennes, Brussels, November, 1872; in Paris at the Folies Dramatiques, February 23, 1873.]
PERSONAGES.
Clairette Angot, daughter of the market. Mlle. Lange, comedienne. Ange Pitou, street singer. Pomponnet, hairdresser. Larivaudière,
Louchard, } police officials. Javotte. Amaranthe. Cydalise. Hersilie. Babet. Trenitz.[Bourgeois, grenadiers, conspirators, hussars, servants, marketwomen, etc.
The scene is laid in Paris; time, about the period of the French Revolution.
The first act opens in a market square in Paris where the marketwomen and others in holiday costume are making ready to celebrate the wedding of Pomponnet, the hairdresser, and Clairette, the daughter of the late Madame Angot. During the festive preparations, for which Clairette has little desire, as her affections are fixed upon Ange Pitou, a street singer, who is continually in trouble by reason of his political songs, the latter makes his appearance. He is informed of the forthcoming wedding, which has been arranged by the market people, who have adopted Clairette as the child of the market. At the same time Larivaudière and Louchard, the police officials who caused his arrest because of his knowledge of the relations of Larivaudière and Mademoiselle Lange, the comedienne and favorite of Barras, are surprised to find him at large. To prevent him from reciting his knowledge in a song which he is sure has been written, Larivaudière buys him off. Pitou subsequently regrets his bargain. When the crowd clamors for a song, he says he has none. The people are furious with him, but Clairette comes to his rescue. She has found the song denouncing Larivaudière, sings it, and is arrested, notwithstanding Pitou’s declaration that he is the author of it.
The second act opens in Mademoiselle Lange’s salon. She has persuaded Barras to release Clairette and have her brought to her apartments, so that she may discover why she sings this song denouncing the government and insulting her also. In the mean time she has also sent for Pomponnet, her hairdresser, and informs him what his future wife has done. He replies that Pitou wrote the song, and that he (Pomponnet) has it. She orders him to fetch it to her. When Clairette arrives they recognize each other as old school friends. Mademoiselle Lange assures her she shall not go back to prison and that she need not marry Pomponnet. She retires to Mademoiselle Lange’s boudoir, when a visitor is announced. It is Ange Pitou, and a love scene at once occurs. The jealous Larivaudière enters and accuses them of being lovers. To justify herself Mademoiselle Lange declares that Pitou and Clairette are lovers, and the latter confirms the statement. Pomponnet’s voice is heard in the outer room. He is admitted, and promptly arrested for having the revolutionary song on his person. The act closes with a meeting of conspirators, and Mademoiselle Lange’s clever oiling of the grenadiers who have come to arrest them by turning the whole affair into a grand ball, to which they are invited.
The last act is occupied with plots and counter-plots which at last succeed in disentangling all the complications. Mademoiselle Lange’s perfidy, as well as Pitou’s, is shown up, Larivaudière has his revenge, and Clairette and Pomponnet are made happy.
The music of the opera is so bright, gay, and characteristic that it made Lecocq a dangerous rival of Offenbach. The most conspicuous numbers are Clairette’s pretty romance, “L’enfant de la Halle” (“The Child of the Market”); Amaranthe’s jolly couplets, “Marchande de marée” (“A Beautiful Fishwoman”); Ange Pitou’s rondo, “Certainement j’aimais Clairette” (“’Tis true I loved Clairette”) and Clairette’s spirited song, “Jadis les rois, race proscrite” (“Once Kings, a Race proscribed”), in the first act: another equally spirited song, “Comme un Coursier” (“Like a Courser”); Pomponnet’s pretty air, “Elle est tellement innocente” (“She is so innocent”); a charming sentimental duet for Mademoiselle Lange and Clairette, “Jours fortunes de notre enfance” (“Happy Days of Childhood”); a striking ensemble in the form of a quintette, “Oui, je vous le dis, c’est pour elle” (“Yes, ’tis on her Account alone”); and the famous conspirators’ chorus, “Quand on conspire” (“When one conspires”), in the second act: and Clairette’s couplets with chorus, “Vous aviez fait de la dépense” (“You put yourselves to Great Expense”); the humorous duet, “Larivaudière and Pomponnet,” and Clairette’s song, “Ah! c’est donc toi” (“Ah! ’tis you, then”), in the last act.
LÖRTZING, ALBERT.
Czar and Carpenter.
[Opéra comique, in three acts; text and music by Lörtzing. First produced in Berlin in 1854.]
PERSONAGES.
Peter I., Czar of Russia under the name of Peter Michaelhoff. Peter Ivanoff, a young Russian shipwright. Herr van Bett, burgomaster of Saardam. Gen. Lefort, Russian ambassador. Lord Syndham, British ambassador. Marquis of Chateauneuf, French ambassador. Marie, niece of the burgomaster. Widow Brown, mistress of the shipyard.
[Shipwrights, workmen, sailors, villagers, etc.]
The scene is laid in Saardam; time, the year 1698.
The opening of the first act of the “Czar and Carpenter” discloses Peter the Great and Peter Ivanoff, a deserter from the Russian army, at work in the shipyard of Mrs. Brown in Saardam. The British and French ambassadors, having been notified that the Czar is there in disguise, are searching for him with the object of negotiating a treaty with him, or, failing that, to abduct him. The British ambassador employs the pompous burgomaster of Saardam to find him a Russian named Peter, without however disclosing his real character to him. The burgomaster happens upon Peter Ivanoff and brings him to the ambassador, who, supposing him to be the Czar, seeks to arrange a treaty with him, and finally gives him a passport so that he may visit England. Meanwhile the people of Saardam, being informed that the Czar is with them, prepare a reception for him.