The first cast was: Marie Roze, in all the splendor of her youthful beauty and talent; Victor Capoul, the idol of the public; and Mlle. Girard, the spirited singer and actress, the delight of the Opéra-Comique.
We were ready to go on the stage when the cast was upset. Marie Roze was taken away from me and replaced by a seventeen year old beginner, Marie Heilbronn, the artist to whom I was to entrust the creation of Manon seventeen years later.
At the first rehearsal with the orchestra I was unconscious of what was going on, I was so deeply absorbed in listening to this and that, in fact to all the sonorousness of the work, which did not prevent me, however, telling every one that I was entirely pleased and satisfied.
I had the courage to attend the first performance—in the wings, which reminded me of Berlioz's L'Enfance du Christ which I had attended secretly.
That evening was both exciting and amusing.
I spent the entire afternoon in feverish agitation.
I stopped at every poster to look at the fascinating words so large with promise:
First Performance of La Grand'Tante
Opéra-Comique in One Act
I had to wait to read the authors' names. That would come only with the announcement of the second performance.
We served as a curtain raiser for the great success of the moment, La Voyage en Chine by Labiche and François Bazin.