Bagatelle (opera)

Bagatelle is a one-act opéra-comique by Jacques Offenbach, with a French libretto by Hector Crémieux and Ernest Blum.[1]

Jacques Offenbach by Nadar, c. 1860s

It was first produced on 21 May 1874 at Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens under the direction of the composer.

Roles
Role Voice type Premiere Cast, 21 May 1874[2]
(Conductor: Jacques Offenbach)
Bagatelle soprano Anna Judic
Georges de Planteville soprano Laurence Grivot
Finette, maid of Bagatelle soprano Mme Suzanne
Pistache baritone Édouard Georges

Synopsis

The piece is set in the boudoir of a star of café-concert, Bagatelle. Her maid Finette is having an affair with a clarinetist reduced to playing in the Cirque Fernando band, Pistache. After a performance, Bagatelle is rehearsing a peasant song when an 18-year-old young admirer enters through the window. He is Georges de Planteville and to ensure they stay together he throws the keys through the window. However Pistache had been hidden in the apartment also; in the morning Finette has to release all three. It emerges that Georges had defended Bagatelle during her show against detractors, so she returns his love.

Recordings

References
  1. Lamb A. Jacques Offenbach (work list). In: The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Macmillan, London and New York, 1997.
  2. Yon, Jean-Claude. Jacques Offenbach. Editions Gallimard, Paris, 2000.
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