Les brigands

"Les brigands" ("The Bandits") is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, by Jacques Offenbach to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy.

"Les brigands" was first performed at the Théâtre des Variétés, Paris on 10 December 1869. This version was in three acts. A four-act version was subsequently prepared for the Théâtre de la Gaîté on 25 December 1878. The piece achieved great success as the Second Empire came to an end. Only the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in the following months dampened audience enthusiasm. The piece also played in New York City at The Grand Opera House in 1870-71. [ [http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?id=441415 Info from IBDB database] ]

Meilhac and Halévy's libretto is cheerfully amoral in its presentation of theft as a basic principle of society rather than as an aberration. The forces of law and order are represented by the bumbling carabinieri, who always arrive too late to capture the thieves, and whose exaggerated attire delighted the Parisian audience during the premiere. Les brigands has a more substantial plot than many Offenbach operettas and integrates the songs more completely into the story. In addition to policemen, financiers receive satiric treatment.

The music of the piece influenced Bizet in writing "Carmen", and the librettists for this work supplied Bizet's libretto. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D02E1D61239F934A15750C0A965948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all Analysis of several Offenbach pieces] ]

English versions

The piece was translated in three acts as "The Brigands" by English dramatist W. S. Gilbert and published by Boosey in 1871 but was not performed until 9 May 1889 at the Casino Theatre, New York City, starring Edwin Stevens as Falsacappa (the brigand chieftain), Lillian Russell in the role of Fiorella, Fred Solomon as Pietro (the brigand lieutenant), Henry Hallam [ [http://diamond.boisestate.edu/gas/whowaswho/H/HallamHenry.htm Henry Hallam biography] ] as the Duke, and Fanny Rice as Fragoletto. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=EzELAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA497&lpg=PA497&dq=%22les+brigands%22+offenbach+falsacappa+fiorella+antonio&source=web&ots=czmnRIKLtY&sig=-WfO67KlW5vPtEUZsqaVf0tJ1lI Complete cast information] ] with an American tour thereafter. Its London premiere was on 2 September 1889 at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth, again starring Russell. It was then presented at the Avenue Theatre in London, beginning 16 September 1889 and then on tour, starring Hallam Mostyn as Falsacappa, H. Lingard as Pietro, Frank Wensley as Fragoletto, Agnes Dellaporte as Fiorella, Marie Luella as the Princess of Granada, and Geraldine St. Maur [http://diamond.boisestate.edu/gas/whowaswho/S/StMaurGeraldine.htm] as Fiametta.Adams, p. 205]

Gilbert was displeased with his own work and attempted to prevent its performance in London - fortunately without success. [ [http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/other_gilbert/letters/17.html Letter from Gilbert to "The Times" of 16 September 1889] ] He also objected to new songs inserted in the piece but written by another lyricist. [ [http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/other_gilbert/letters/18.html Gilbert's letter to "The Times" of 7 November 1889] ] Gilbert's arch lyrics pleased operetta audiences, who were delighted to accept a rough-and-tumble pirate band speaking impeccable drawing room English while describing dastardly deeds to gavottes and musical romps in three-quarter time. Many of the characters and situations in the piece are echoed later in Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance" and "The Gondoliers".

An earlier English version by H. S. Leigh was presented at the Globe Theatre in London under the name "Falsacappa", beginning on 13 September, 1875. Camille Dubois starred as Fragoletto, Julia Vokins was the Princess of Granada and Nelly Bromley was the Prince of Popoli. This version had also been given an 1871 performance in London.

Roles

ynopsis

Fragoletto, a young farmer, is captured by Italian brigands lurking in the Alps. He falls in love with Fiorella, the daughter of the bandit chief Falsacappa. Falsacappa intends to move up from small robberies to grand-scale ones. To prove himself, Fragoletto becomes involved in Falsacappa's complicated plan to steal a large sum of money while intercepting the marriage between the Princess of Granada (whom they capture) and the womanizing Prince of Mantua (the Duke). Falsacappa substitutes Fiorella's portrait for that of the Princess and provides his own wedding delegation to Mantua. Eventually, matters are sorted out, the brigands are revealed and pardoned, and Fragoletto marries his beloved Fiorella. The lesson: the true bandits are to be found not in the forest but in the leading circles of society.

Musical numbers

*Overture

Act 1
*No.1 A - Chœur des brigands: 'Le cor dans la montagne'
*No.1 B - Couplets des jeunes filles: 'Déjà depuis une grande heure'
*No.1 C - Couplets de Falsacappa: 'Qui est celui qui par les plaines'
*No.1 D - Strette
*No.1 Bis - Melodrame;
*No.2 - Couplets de Fiorella: 'Au chapeau je porte une aigrette'
*No.3 - Morceau d'ensemble: 'Nous avons pris ce petit homme'
*No.4 - Couplets de Fragoletto: 'Quand tu me fis l’insigne honneur...'
*No.4 Bis - Choir de sortie: 'Nous avons pris ce petit homme'
*No.5 - Rondo: 'Après avoir pris à droite'
*No.6 - Saltarelle: 'Ce petit est un vrai luron'
*No.7 - Finale A - Choir la réception: 'Pour cette ceremonie'/B - 'Jure d'avoir du courage... Vole, vole, pille, vole'/C - Orgie: 'Flamme claire'/D - Choir des carabiniers: 'Nous sommes les carbiniers'/E - Strette: 'Flamme claire'

Act 2
*Entracte
*No.9 - Choir: 'Les fourneaux sont allumés' (Fiorella, Fragoletto)
*No.10 - Canon: 'Soyez pitoyables'
*No.11 - Duetto du Notaire: 'Hé! Là! Hé! Là!'
*No.12 - Trio des marmitons: 'Arrête-toi Donc, Je t'en prie' (Fragoletto, Falsacappa, Pietro)
*No.13 - Choir et melodrame: 'A nous, holà! les marmitons'
*No.14 - Choir et couplets de l'ambassade: 'Dissimulons, dissimulons... Nous avons ce matin tous deux' (Campo Tasso, le capitaine)
*No.15 - Choir, melodrame et scene, couplets: 'Entrez-là!... Grenade, Infante des Espagnes...Jadis vous n'aivez qu'une patrie'
*No.16 - Couplets de Fiorella: 'Je n’en sais rien, Madame'
*No.17 - Finale: Choir, Ensemble, Scene: 'Entrez-là!... Tous sans trompettes ni tambour... Quels sont ces cris?...'

Act 3
*No.18 - Entracte
*No.19 - Chœur de fête et couplets du prince: 'L'aurore paraît... Jadis régnait un prince'
*No.20 - Couplets du caissier: 'O mes amours, O mes maîtresses'
*No.21 - Morceau d’ensemble: Voici venir la princesse et son page'
*No.22 - Finale: 'Coquin, brigand, traître, bandit!'

elected recordings

This work has been recorded a number of times: [ [http://www.mmguide.musicmatch.com/album/work_classical.cgi?WORKID=27959 List of recordings] ]
*John Eliot Gardiner recorded the three-act version with chorus and orchestra of the Opéra de Lyon for EMI in 1988 (CD 7 49830 2).
*Gilbert's English version was recorded by Ohio Light Opera in 2004, Albany Records, ASIN: B00022FWVS. [ [http://www.eldus.com/an/B00022FWVS.html Information about OLO recording of "Les brigands"] ]
*There is a German version by Ernst Dohm, "Die Banditen", which was recorded and released in 2002 on the Capriccio label, Catalog: 60090. Conductor, Pinchas Steinberg.

Notes

References

* [http://www.boosey.com/pages/opera/moredetails.asp?musicid=45545 Synopsis, roles and other information about the operetta]
* [http://perso.orange.fr/anao/oeuvre/brigands.html Introduction, synopsis and other information in French]
* [http://www.partitura.nl/Engels/Modernevertalingen/LesBrigands-eng.htm Profile of the operetta]
* [http://www.naxos.com/mainsite/NewDesign/fintro.files/bintro.files/operas/Brigands_Les(The_Brigands).htm Information about the story]
*Adams, William Davenport. [http://books.google.com/books?id=1UM5AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA484&lpg=PA484&dq=%22William+Davenport+Adams%22+Brigands&source=web&ots=mPhAZze9Us&sig=Rvii_K9xWw5nbZvGtNE0CzY5gNI&hl=en#PPA205,M1 "A Dictionary of the Drama"] , Chatto & Windus (1904)
*Crowther, Andrew. "The Brigands" in "W.S. Gilbert Society Journal", Ed. Brian Jones, Vol. 2, No. 16: Winter 2004, pp. 508-09
* [http://www.answers.com/topic/les-brigands-operetta-in-3-acts Profile of the operetta from All Music Guide]

External links

* [http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/other_gilbert/letters/17.html W. S. Gilbert's letter to "The Times" of 16 September 1889]
* [http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?id=441415 Les Brigands] at the IBDB database
* [http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=78597 Lyon Opera's DVD of the operetta]
* [http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?parent_id=142587&word= Photos from an American production with Lillian Russell]