''Le docteur Miracle'' (''Doctor Miracle'') is an

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 co ...

in one act by the French composer

Georges Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', w ...

. The

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) 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 th ...

, by

Léon Battu Léon Battu was a French dramatist, born 1829Walsh T J. ''Second Empire Opera: The Théâtre Lyrique Paris 1851–1870.'' John Calder (Publishers Ltd), London, 1981, Appendix D, p. 342. in Paris, where he died on 22 November 1857. Life and ...

and

Ludovic Halévy Ludovic Halévy (1 January 1834 – 7 May 1908) was a French people, French author and playwright, known for his collaborations with Henri Meilhac on the libretto, libretti for Georges Bizet's ''Carmen'' and comic operas by Jacques Offenbach, inc ...

, is based on Sheridan's play ''Saint Patrick's Day''. Bizet wrote the work when he was just 18 years old for a competition organised by

Jacques Offenbach Jacques Offenbach (; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera ''The Tales of Hoffmann''. He was a p ...

. He shared first prize with

Charles Lecocq Alexandre Charles Lecocq (; 3 June 183224 October 1918) was a French composer, known for his opérettes and opéra comique, opéras comiques. He became the most prominent successor to Jacques Offenbach in this sphere, and enjoyed considerable su ...

. His reward was to have the piece performed 11 times at Offenbach's Bouffes-Parisiens theatre. The premiere took place on 9 April 1857 at Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens in Paris.

Roles

Plot

The story takes place in

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

in the middle of the nineteenth century. The mayor and his wife Véronique are woken up very early one morning by what appears to be a noisy advertising campaign outside their house, shouting the talents of a Doctor Miracle. This is, in fact, a young officer, Silvio, who had thought up this ruse in order to be able to serenade the mayor's daughter Laurette, with whom he has fallen in love. The mayor, who has an aversion to the military, has got wind of their relationship and had forbidden Laurette to have anything to do with soldiers. He suspects that Doctor Miracle is Silvio in disguise, but his worries are calmed by Laurette and by Véronique, who has guessed what is going on. Laurette sings of her passion for Silvio, and a young man suddenly arrives at the house: he says that he is Pasquin and that he has been sent by a friend of the mayor to help out with the housework – he adds that he is allergic to soldiers. The mayor is delighted to welcome him into the house, not realising that Pasquin is in fact Silvio in another disguise. Pasquin sings of his many attributes as a servant and the mayor is pleased with what he hears. The mayor introduces Pasquin to his wife and daughter and Pasquin, to Laurette's disgust (although she has not recognised him yet), pretends to flirt with Véronique. It is time for breakfast, and the mayor gives Pasquin instructions to prepare an

omelette An omelette (sometimes omelet in American English; see spelling differences) is a dish made from eggs (usually chicken eggs), fried with butter or oil in a frying pan. It is a common practice for an omelette to include fillings such as chiv ...

. In the famous ''Omelette quartet'', Pasquin brings in the omelette and they all sing its praises. But when the mayor and his wife and Laurette taste it, they all start to choke – it is disgusting. The mayor and Véronique rush from the house to rinse their mouths out and Laurette now recognises Pasquin as Silvio: they sing a tender love duet which turns into a trio when the mayor returns and catches them together. Furious, he throws Silvio out of the house. Soon after, a

telegram Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...

arrives from Silvio confessing that the omelette was in fact poisoned. The mayor is terrified, but Laurette tells him that she knows a wonderful doctor who will be able to cure him. In a panic, the mayor promises to give this doctor anything he wants in return for the antidote to the poison. The doctor arrives – it is, of course, Silvio again, back in the Doctor Miracle disguise. He offers to cure the mayor in return for Laurette's hand in marriage. The mayor concedes defeat and agrees to the marriage, at which Silvio declares that the omelette wasn't poisoned after all. Thoroughly outwitted, the mayor offers Laurette to Silvio and the opera ends in an ensemble in which they all agree that the phony doctor did after all have the cure for everything, which is Love.

References

*''The Viking Opera Guide'' ed. Holden (1993) {{DEFAULTSORT:Docteur Miracle, Le Operas by Georges Bizet French-language operas Opérettes 1857 operas One-act operas Operas based on plays Operas Libretti by Ludovic Halévy