M. Choufleuri restera chez lui le . . .

"M. Choufleuri restera chez lui le... " ("Mr. Cauliflower will be at Home on... ") is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, in one act by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was by 'M. de St Rémy', pseudonym of the Duc de Morny. Ludovic Halévy. Hector-Jonathan Crémieux and Morny's secretary Ernest Lépine, probably also contributed to the text.

The silly plot is perfectly wedded to Offenbach's lighthearted musical parodies of well-known opera numbers, especially a grand trio in which Italian belcanto is parodied, and a comic solo for the manservant. Also, the young lovers secretly communicate using musical quotes. [ [http://www.partitura.nl/Engels/Modernevertalingen/Choufleuri-eng.htm Profile of the opera] from "www.partitura.nl"]

Performance history

"M. Choufleuri" was first performed privately at the Présidence du Corps Légistlatif, Palais Bourbon, Paris on 31 May 1861. The first public performance was given at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens, Paris on 14 September 1861.

The one-hour work is still performed, especially by amateur companies, since it is not particularly vocally challenging. There was a production at La Monnaie, Brussels under Patrick Davin in February 2007. [ [http://www.demunt.be/demunt-1.0/vrienden/activiteit.jsp?id=6282&language=FR Patrick Davin productions] from "www.demunt.be" - "(in French}"]

Roles

There is also a small chorus made up of other guests at the soiree.

ynopsis

:Place: Paris:Time: January 24 1833

The newly-rich but culturally ignorant M. Choufleuri invites the upper crust of Paris to a private party and "musical soiree" (at his bourgeois drawing-room, furnished in vulgar taste) by celebrated real life Italian opera singers: soprano Henriette Sontag, tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini, and baritone Antonio Tamburini. All three become indisposed at the last minute.

In the meantime, Choufleuri's daughter, Ernestine, has been secretly seeing a young basoonist, composer and singer, Chrysodule Babylas. When she asked her father to invite the young man to the soiree, Choufleuri had refused, saying that a poor musician is not a worthy suitor for her. Now, Ernestine saves the day by impersonating Sontag and insisting that Babylas impersonate Rubini, and that Choufleuri himself masquerade as Tamburini (after all, the young couple explain, baritones don't need to speak much, they just oom-pah-pah – but Choufleuri should try to stay on key).

Despite Choufleuri's lazy and incompetent Flemish servant, Petermann, the deception works – the guests are impressed by the great "Italian" singers (who all speak in Italian accents and sing in pig-Italian), and Choufleuri rewards Babylas with his daughter's hand in marriage (especially since Babylas has demanded this, plus 50,000 Francs dowry, in order to keep quiet about the fraud). [ [http://www.boosey.com/downloads/MonsieurChoufleuri.pdf Script] from "www.boosey.com"]

References

Andrew Lamb, " "M. Choufleuri restera chez lui le . . ." in "The New Grove Dictionary of Opera", ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7"

External links

*http://www.boosey.com/downloads/MonsieurChoufleuri.pdf Libretto as originally submitted for censorship.