Charles Lecocq was born in Paris on June 3, 1832. For four years he
attended the Paris Conservatory where, as a pupil of Bazin and Halévy,
he received prizes in harmony and fugue. For a while he earned his
living teaching the piano and writing church music. In 1857 he shared
with Bizet the first prize in a competition for one-act operettas
sponsored by Offenbach. This winning work, _Le Docteur miracle_, was
successfully introduced in Paris that year. After that Lecocq wrote
several light operas which were failures, before he enjoyed a major
success with _Fleur de thé_ in 1868, first in Paris and subsequently in
England and Germany. His greatest successes came with two crowning works
in the French light-opera repertory: _La Fille de_ _Mme. Angot_ in 1872,
and _Giroflé-Girofla_, in 1874. Between 1874 and 1900 he wrote over
thirty more operettas. He died in Paris on October 24, 1918 after
enjoying for almost half a century a place of signal honor among
France’s composers for the popular theater.
Lecocq is remembered today mainly for _La Fille de Mme. Angot_ and
_Giroflé-Girofla_. The first of these was introduced in Brussels on
December 4, 1872. In Paris, where it was given on February 23, 1873, it
enjoyed the formidable run of more than five hundred consecutive
performances. The book—by Siraudin, Clairville and Koning—was set in
Paris during the French Revolution. Clairette, daughter of Mme. Angot,
must marry the barber Pomponnet even though she loves the poet, Pitou.
To avoid an undesirable marriage, even at the risk of arrest, Clairette
sings a daring song by Pitou about an illicit affair between Mlle. Lange
(reputed a favorite of Barras, head of the Directory) and a young lover.
When Pitou proves fickle, and is discovered in the boudoir of Mlle.
Lange, Clairette stands ready to forget him completely and to take
Pomponnet as her husband.
The sprightly overture, filled with vivacious tunes and dramatized by
energetic rhythms, is a favorite of semi-classical orchestras. So are
several dances from the operetta, including an electrifying Can-Can, and
a sweeping _Grand Valse_ with which the second act comes to an exciting
close. The main vocal excerpts are Pomponnet’s passionate avowal of
Clairette’s innocence, “_Elle est tellement innocente_” and the duet of
Mlle. Lange and Clairette, “_Jours fortunés de notre enfance_” both from
Act 2.
_Giroflé-Girofla_—book by Vanloo and Leterrier—was introduced in
Brussels on March 21, 1874. Giroflé and Girofla are twin sisters.
Giroflé is pressured by her parents to marry the banker, Marasquin;
Girofla is in love with an impoverished fire-eating Moor, Mourzouk. When
Girofla is secretly abducted by pirates, the Moor comes to her home
demanding to see her, only to mistake Giroflé for Girofla. The
complicated situation ensuing becomes resolved only after Girofla is
rescued and brought back home.
The most frequently heard excerpts from this gay score are the Pirates’
Chorus, “_Parmi les choses_”; the rousing drinking song, “_Le Punche
scintille_”; the ballad, “_Lorsque la journée est finie_”; and the love
duet, “_O Ciel!_”