''Apothicaire et perruquier'' ( Apothecary and

Wigmaker A wig is a head or hair accessory made from human hair, animal hair, or synthetic fiber. The word wig is short for periwig, which makes its earliest known appearance in the English language in William Shakespeare's ''The Two Gentlemen of Verona' ...

/Hairdresser) is a one-act

opérette This is a glossary list of opera genres, giving alternative names. "Opera" is an Italian word (short for "opera in musica"); it was not at first ''commonly'' used in Italy (or in other countries) to refer to the genre of particular works. Most c ...

-bouffe with music by Jacques Offenbach to a French

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

by , first performed in 1861, one of six new works he premiered that year. Faris describes the score as "pastiche" "in the decorated vocal style of the eighteenth century".

Performance history

The libretto ('opérette du temps jadis' peretta from times gone by was first set to music by

Laurent de Rillé Laurent may refer to: *Laurent (name), a French masculine given name and a surname **Saint Laurence (aka: Saint ''Laurent''), the martyr Laurent **Pierre Alphonse Laurent, mathematician **Joseph Jean Pierre Laurent, amateur astronomer, discoverer ...

but the score was lost. In the face of an irate librettist, Offenbach set to work to compose an operetta in a pastiche of classical style. The premiere of Offenbach's work was on 17 October 1861 at the

Salle Choiseul Salle is the French word for 'hall', 'room' or 'auditorium', as in: *Salle des Concerts Herz, a former Paris concert hall *Salle Favart, theatre of the Paris Opéra-Comique *Salle Le Peletier, former home of the Paris Opéra *Salle Pleyel, a Paris ...

, Paris, and it shared the bill on the opening night of the following season. It was also on the bill for the premiere of ''

La permission de dix heures ''La permission de dix heures'' is an opéra comique in one act, composed in 1867 by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto, by Mélesville and Pierre Carmouche, was arranged by Nuitter with the agreement of Carmouche from the comédie-vaudevil ...

'' in September 1873 at the

Théâtre de la Renaissance The name Théâtre de la Renaissance has been used successively for three distinct Parisian theatre companies. The first two companies, which were short-lived enterprises in the 19th century, used the Salle Ventadour, now an office building on th ...

.. ''Jacques Offenbach''. Éditions Gallimard, Paris, 2000, p. 262. The Offenbach- Keck critical edition of ''Apothicaire et perruquier'' was first performed at the Kurtheater,

Bad Ems Bad Ems () is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Rhein-Lahn rural district and is well known as a spa on the river Lahn. Bad Ems is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' (administrative community) Bad E ...

, Germany, (in German) on the 1 June 2007, with the

WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln The is a German broadcast orchestra of the ' (WDR, West German Broadcasting) in Cologne. The orchestra gives its concerts in such venues as the Kölner Philharmonie and in the Funkhaus Wallrafplatz. History Groups from which the orchestra was f ...

conducted by

Helmuth Froschauer Helmuth Emil Froschauer (22 September 1933 – 18 August 2019) was an Austrian conductor, especially a choral conductor who received his first training as a member of the Wiener Sängerknaben. He conducted the choir from 1953 to 1965, including 22 ...

,"Performancec search: 'Apothicaire et perruquier', '01/01/2007', '31/12/2007', 'Submit' "

Boosey & Hawkes Boosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass, string and woodwind musical instruments. Formed in 1930 throu ...

with soloists

Mojca Erdmann Mojca Erdmann (born 29 December 1975) is a German soprano who is particularly associated with the Mozart operas. She created the role of Ariadne in Rihm's '' Dionysos'' at the Salzburg Festival. Career Born in Hamburg, Erdmann sang in the ch ...

, Jörg Sabrowski, Leandro Fischetti and Michael Gann.

Roles

Synopsis

:''A modest room, at the time of

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...

'' Boudinet reads a letter from his old friend the apothecary Plumoiseau in

La Palisse LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on Figure 8 ( ...

. Boudinet has agreed as a gesture of goodwill to marry his daughter Sempronia to Plumoiseau's promising son neither of whom have met. It is the day of the wedding and he awaits the bride's hairdresser, and the bridegroom. The hairdresser Chilpéric arrives, Boudinet mistaking him for the bridegroom, complimenting and offering him dinner but not allowing him to see the bride. While Boudinet goes to check the final preparations of the ceremony, Chilpéric alone, in a Romance, muses on a girl with the most beautiful hair he once met in Carpentras. When Sempronia enters looking for the hairdresser, they recognise each other but she takes him to be the young apothecary. At which point the real apothecary Plumoiseau arrives, Boudinet castigating him for his lateness and telling him that the wedding could not go ahead without him ... The four express their differing feelings in an ensemble. Despite his inability to do so, Plumoiseau is told to go with Sempronia and do the bride's hair. After more confusion between the father and hairdresser, Sempronia rushes in, her hair a mess, complaining about the supposed hairdresser who has broken her tortoise-shell comb. Chilpéric volunteers to restore her coiffure and they go out. Boudinet and Plumoiseau have a furious argument, the father angry that his daughter's hair is not yet ready, the intended bridegroom for being treated so roughly by his father's old friend. Sempronia re-enters during the uproar, and after more confusion she intervenes: Chilpéric is the man she fell for while staying in the countryside. Boudinet refuses to back down from giving her away to a Plumoiseau. On hearing this Chilpéric reveals that his family name is also Plumoiseau, in fact he is a cousin of the pharmacist's son – and the two embrace and decide to go out and have a meal together. But Boudinet summons them back and agrees to the marriage of Sempronia and the hairdresser – with the apothecary in attendance.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Apothicaire et perruquier Operas by Jacques Offenbach French-language operas Operas Opérettes One-act operas 1861 operas