La Fille de Madame Angot, Charles Lecocq

Title La Fille de Madame Angot
English Title The daughter of Madame Angot
Composer Charles Lecocq
Librettists Clairville, Siraudin and Victor Koning
Language French, Dutch translation available
Genre Opera (three acts)
First performance 4 December 1872, Théâtre des Fantaisies Parisiennes, Brussels
Time of action Shortly after the French revolution. Paris between 1795 and 1799.
Place of action
  1. A square at the Halles in Paris
  2. An elegant drawing room
  3. Garden of a café at Belleville, near Paris
Main parts
  • Clairette Angot, soprano
  • Mademoiselle Lange, mezzosoprano
  • Pomponnet, wigmaker, tenor
  • Ange Pitou, singer, tenor
  • Larivaudière, banker, (comic) baritone
  • Louchard, Chief of Police, bass
  • Amaranthe, fish-wife, soprano or mezzo-soprano
  • Thrénitz, dancer, tenor or baritone
Prominence of chorus Very large
Orchestra 2 flutes, 1 oboe, 2 clarinets, 1 bassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani/percussion, strings
Special demands

If desired, a ballet may be inserted in the third act; the music for this is available at request (the score here requires a second bassoon). In the second finale of the opera a trumpet is sounded from behind the scenes.

Full score and orchestral parts Available
Level Not difficult
Length 3 acts, about 2½ hours in all
Music

Extraordinarily charming, an entrancing stream of solos, duets, ensembles and choruses.

Highlights: the song about Madame Angot, the great conspirators’ scene and the so-called Angot-waltz ending the second act.

In contrast to many operettas, the last act also contains much new and interesting music, and, if desired, a grand ballet-scene.

Story

Madame Angot was a popular character, known from a number of plays: a fish-wife who managed to become a millionairess in the upheavals of the French revolution. The market-sellers of Paris have given Madame Angot’s daughter, Clairette, an education and have also chosen a husband for her: Pomponnet, a wig-maker. Clairette, however, is in love with Ange Pitou, a street-singer with royalist sympathies.
In the second act it appears that Clairette has a rival, Mlle Lange, an intriguer and patroness of Pitou. After many developments Clairette realizes that Pomponnet is not such a bad choice after all, and marries him.

Costumes First and third acts: townspeople.
Second act: affectedly fashionable clothing of 1795
Note
Pictures Odeon Alkmaar 2014 - 1st act Odeon Alkmaar 2014 - 2nd act
Link Wikipedia

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Tags: Lecocq | Fransen