- Fisch-Ton-Kan
"Fisch-Ton-Kan" is an opéra bouffe in one act by
Emmanuel Chabrier of which only fragments survive. The French libretto was byPaul Verlaine and probably Lucien Viotti, after the 'parade chinoise' "Fich-Tong-Khan ou l'orphelin de le Tartarie" of 1835 by Thomas Sauvage (1794-1877) and Gabriel de Lurieu (1792-1869).Background
Composed around 1864, by when Verlaine and Chabrier had become good friends, only five complete numbers survive from this early comic work. Many of the situations recur in Chabrier's "L'étoile": Goulgouly becomes Laoula, Fisch-Ton-Kan turns into Lazuli and Kakao is a trial run for Ouf Ier. The 'Air de Poussah' is re-used in his "Ronde Champetre", a piano work of 1880. The title might be roughly given in English as "Buzz off!".
Performance history
"Fisch-Ton-Kan" was first performed with Chabrier at the piano at the ‘Cercle de l'Union artistique’ in Paris on 31 March 1875. The next performance was on 22 April 1941 at the Salle du Conservatoire, Paris with
Francis Poulenc at the piano. The orchestration for strings and wind quartet (1974) is by Roger Delage.Roles
ynopsis
"from the original play"
From a balcony of the palace, Goulgouly takes a fancy to a young man below: Fisch-Ton-Kan. When each declares their love, he reveals to her that he is a Tartar prince exiled when he was 17 months old for having insulted Kakao, his father's enemy. Kakao orders all foreigners to cut off their right ear and leave it at the customs. When Kakao arrives on his palanquin he asks that boiling water be poured into a giant tea-pot in which Fisch-Ton-Kan is hiding, but Goulgouly manages to stop him. Kakao wants Goulgouly for himself. When Fisch-Ton-Kan intervenes, Kakao condemns him to be impaled but the young man escapes this fate by proving capable of removing the beetle Kakao is convinced he has on his nose. Offering Fisch-Ton-Kan anything to do this, he naturally chooses the hand of Goulgouly.elected recordings
* Christian Mehn (Tenor), Francis Dudziak (Baritone), Jean-Louis Georgel (Baritone), Mireille Delunsch (Soprano). Strasbourg Collegium Musicum Orchestra conducted by Roger Delage. Arion.
References
Delage, Roger. 1999. "Emmanuel Chabrier". Paris: Fayard. ISBN 2.213.60508.4 - 35-56-0707-01/4
Poulenc F. "Emmanuel Chabrier". Geneva and Paris, La Palatine, 1961.
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