M. Choufleuri restera chez lui le ...

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Work data
Title: Mr. Cauliflower stays at home ...
Original title: M. Choufleuri restera chez lui le ... '
Choufleuri Offenbach.jpg
Shape: Opera parody
Original language: French
Music: Jacques Offenbach
Libretto : M. de St Rémy (Duc de Morny)
Premiere: May 31, 1861
Place of premiere: Palais Bourbon , Paris
Place and time of the action: Paris, January 24, 1833
people
  • Choufleuri ( baritone )
  • Ernestine, his daughter ( soprano )
  • Chrysodule Babylas, Ernestine's lover ( tenor )
  • Petermann, Belgian servant of Choufleuri (tenor)
  • Balandard, a guest ( speaking role )
  • Madame Balandard, his wife (transvestite, falsettist)

M. Choufleuri restera chez lui le… (German: Mr. Cauliflower stays at home… ) is an opera parody in the form of a musical farce or operetta by Jacques Offenbach based on a libretto by M. de St Rémy (Duc de Morny) , with possible contributions by Ludovic Halévy , Hector Crémieux and Ernest Lépine (Paris 1861).

The premiere took place on May 31, 1861 in a closed circle in the Présidence du Corps Légistlatif in the Palais Bourbon in Paris. The title ( Monsieur C. stays home ... ) refers to the method used by noble people at the time to invite one another: instead of inviting someone directly, a message was sent that they would stay home at a certain time. The recipient then drew the (legitimate) conclusion that something was being organized to which he was welcome. The singers who supposedly intended to appear in the piece (the tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini , the baritone Antonio Tamburini and the soprano Henriette Sontag ) were the most famous and successful singers of their time. As early as October 17, 1861, a German version was performed on the stage of the Quai Theater by Karl Treumann in Vienna .

Since the seventies of the twentieth century the one-act play has been performed again often, in the German-speaking world often under the title Salon Pitzelberger (translation: Carl Friedrich Wittmann ).

action

Paris, January 24, 1833

Ernestine, the daughter of the entrepreneur Choufleuri, has just returned from boarding school. She immediately felt a love for her neighbor, Chrysodule Babylas, a young composer. However, your father is not allowed to know because he rejects anything foreign and does not know the neighbor either. However, they have agreed on a code: when Choufleuri is not at home, Ernestine plays a tune on the piano, whereupon Babylas gets in through the window. Together they sing a piece from his new opera, but then Choufleuri comes home and Babylas steps outside through the window.

Choufleuri is very excited because he wants to pretend to be a patron of music, so he organized a music evening to which he invites the world-famous opera singers Rubini, Tamburini and the Sontag so that they can sing pieces from Italian operas. He disguises his Belgian butler Peterman as an English butler by the name of John, who is always pronounced as Jaune by Choufleuri, which, according to Peterman in Brussels, is an allusion. Peterman doesn't understand the business process anyway.

Then Choufleuri receives three letters, two of which are impolite, but the third contains the worst explosives: Rubini, Tamburini and Sontag cancel the performance.

Ernestine can play and plays her melody on the piano. Babylas comes in promptly and Ernestine tells what's going on. Babylas says that he is almost a double of Rubini, Ernestine has a talent for singing and can play Sontag - after all, the invited guests don't know her - and Choufleuri has to take on the role of tamburini himself. The fact that none of them speak Italian doesn't matter.

The guests arrive and after a few misunderstandings the concert begins. The three "singers" give a concert in spontaneously improvised pseudo-Italian, the guests are not aware of this and it is a great success. Then Babylas Choufleuri whispers in his ear that he should marry Ernestine and that her father should give her a dowry, otherwise he will expose everyone. Choufleuri does not want to reveal his manipulation and has no choice but to agree to Babylas' demands.

Cast for the premiere in 1861

role Pitch actor
Choufleuri baritone Désiré
Ernestine, his daughter soprano Lise Tautin
Chrysodule Babylas, Ernestine's lover tenor Pierre-Armand Potel
Petermann, Belgian servant of Choufleuri tenor Georges Dejon-Marchand
Balandard, a guest Speaking role Debruille-Bache
Madame Balandard, his wife (transvestite) Falsettist Léonce
conductor Offenbach

layout

orchestra

The orchestral line-up includes the following instruments:

Structure of the music numbers

  1. Overture
  2. Couplets “J'étais vraiment très ignorante” - Ernestine
  3. Boléro "Pedro possède une guitare" - Ernestine, Babylas
  4. Couplets "En naissant chaque créature" - Petermann
  5. Trio "Babylas, Babylas, Babylas" - Ernestine, Babylas, Choufleuri
  6. Ensemble “Le plaisir nous invite” - M. and Madame Balandard, Petermann, choir
  7. Trio Italy «Italia la bella» - Ernestine, Babylas, Choufleuri, choir
  8. Final «Vraiment votre petite fête» - All

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