''Le portefaix'' (The Porter) (full title ''Le portefaix ou le jardinier de Grenade (The Porter, or the Gardener of Grenada)'') is an

opéra comique ''Opéra comique'' (; plural: ''opéras comiques'') is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged from the popular '' opéras comiques en vaudevilles'' of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent (and to a l ...

in three acts composed by José Melchor Gomis. The libretto by

Eugène Scribe Augustin Eugène Scribe (; 24 December 179120 February 1861) was a French dramatist and librettist. He is known for writing "well-made plays" ("pièces bien faites"), a mainstay of popular theatre for over 100 years, and as the librettist of man ...

is based on an episode in ''Le Comte de Villamayor'' by M. Mortonval (Alexandre Furcy Guesdon). It was originally offered to the composer

Giacomo Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Mozart and Wagner". With his 1831 opera ''Robert le di ...

, but he was contracted instead by the opera manager Louis Véron to create a five-act

grand opera Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterized by large-scale casts and orchestras, and (in their original productions) lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on o ...

(''

Les Huguenots () is an opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer and is one of the most popular and spectacular examples of grand opera. In five acts, to a libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work suc ...

''). The opera was premiered on 16 June 1835 by the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief rival, the Comédie-Italienne ...

at the

Théâtre des Nouveautés The Théâtre des Nouveautés ("Theatre of the New") is a Parisian theatre built in 1921 and located at 24 boulevard Poissonnière (Paris, 9th arr.). The name was also used by several earlier Parisian theatre companies and their buildings, begin ...

in Paris with Jean-Baptiste Chollet and Jeanne-Emélie Belloste in the lead roles of Gasparillo and Teresita.''

Le Ménestrel ''Le Ménestrel'' (The Minstrel) was an influential French music journal published weekly from 1833 until 1940. It was founded by Joseph-Hippolyte l'Henry and originally printed by Poussièlgue. In 1840 it was acquired by the music publishers Heu ...

'' (28 June 1835)
"Opéra-Comique"
pp. 1; 4. Retrieved 6 September 2015 .

Roles

References

Sources

* Letellier, Robert (2014). ''Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots: An Evangel of Religion and Love''. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Operas 1835 operas French-language operas Operas set in Spain Libretti by Eugène Scribe {{French-opera-stub