Robinson Crusoé

''Robinson Crusoé '' is an opéra comique with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Eugène Cormon and Hector-Jonathan Crémieux. It premiered in Paris on 23 November 1867.

The writers took the theme from the 1719 novel ''Robinson Crusoe'' by Daniel Defoe, though the work owes more to British pantomime than to the book itself. Crusoé leaves his family in England and runs away to sea. He is marooned on an island with only his friend and helper Vendredi (Man Friday) for company. His fiancée and two family servants come to the island in search of him, and after narrow escapes from cannibals and pirates they seize the pirates' ship and set sail for home.

The opera was written for the prestigious Opéra-Comique in Paris, his second work for that theatre, following the unsuccessful ''Barkouf'' seven years earlier. The music is on a grander scale than that of most of the composer's earlier works. The opera was well received but ran for only 32 performances. In the 20th century it was not revived until the 1970s (in London) and was not seen again at the Opéra-Comique until 1986.

Background and first production

By the mid-1860s Offenbach had established himself both in Paris and internationally with his opéras bouffes ''Orphée aux enfers'' (1858), ''La belle Hélène'' (1864), '' La vie parisienne'' (1866) and ''La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein'' (1867) and many others. These were box-office successes in commercial theatres, but the composer's only work for the prestigious state-owned Opéra-Comique, ''Barkouf'' (1860), had been a failure, hampered by a plot described by Hector Berlioz as puerile. Since then Offenbach had hoped for a triumphant return to the Opéra-Comique, which commissioned a new work from him for the 1867 season. The piece was described as an opéra comique – regarded by the musical establishment as a superior genre to Offenbach's more usual opéra bouffe. Audiences at the Opéra-Comique were more straight-laced than those at the Bouffes-Parisiens, Variétés and other Parisian theatres where Offenbach's works were usually seen, and Offenbach, determined not to alienate them, chose a familiar subject, Robinson Crusoe. It was well known to Parisian audiences from stage adaptations, particularly one by René-Charles Guilbert de Pixérécourt described by ''Le Figaro'' as "a happy amalgam of Shakespeare and Daniel de Foë" . In the version by Offenbach's librettists, Eugène Cormon and Hector Crémieux, the first act opened with a reassuringly bourgeois scene: Crusoé senior reading the Bible while his wife busies herself at the spinning wheel. Later in the piece came the expected can-can and the equally required waltz-song.White, Don (1980). Notes to Opera Rara CD set OR228

''Robinson Crusoé'' opened at the Opéra-Comique (Salle Favart), on 23 November 1867. Among the cast, playing Vendredi, was Célestine Galli-Marié, later to achieve fame as the first Carmen. The opening night was reported by ''Le Figaro'' as a considerable success, with many numbers being encored, but the piece ran for only 32 performances.

Original cast

Synopsis

Act 1

At the Crusoé family home in Bristol, Lady Crusoé, her niece Edwige and Suzanne, the maid, prepare for Sunday tea, while Sir William pointedly reads aloud the parable of the Prodigal Son from his Bible. Robinson finally arrives disgracefully late, but, a cherished only child, he easily persuades his parents to forgive him. Taking Toby aside, he explains that he has booked passages to South America for them both that very night on the schooner in the harbour. Edwige, realising that she is in love with Robinson, begs him to stay. He is tempted to remain, but she realises she will lose him if he forgoes his dream for her sake. Toby withdraws from the venture – at Suzanne's insistence – but Robinson knows he has to go alone to seek his fortune.

Act 2

Six years later, Robinson is on a desert island at the mouth of the Orinoco, having escaped from pirates who attacked his ship. He has only one companion, Vendredi, whom he earlier rescued from being sacrificed to the gods by the cannibal tribe on the island. Robinson dreams of Edwige, and tries to explain his feelings to Vendredi.

In another part of the island, Edwige, Suzanne and Toby have arrived to look for Robinson. They too have been attacked by and escaped from pirates. Toby and Suzanne are captured by the cannibals, and meet their old Bristol neighbour Jim Cocks. He had run away to sea ten years earlier, and, captured by the cannibals, has become their cook. He cheerfully informs Suzanne and Toby that they will be the cannibals' dinner that evening. At sunset, Edwige is brought in by natives, who believe that she is a white goddess. She is to be sacrificed to their god, Saranha. Vendredi spies all this, and is smitten with Edwige. When the fire is lit, he fires Robinson's pistol, the natives flee, and he rescues Edwige, Suzanne, Toby and Jim Cocks.

Act 3

The next day Robinson discovers Edwige sleeping in his hut and they are blissfully reunited. Vendredi explains that the pirates have left their ship, allowing the English group the chance to seize it and to return to England while the pirates feast and dance. Robinson, feigning insanity, fools the pirates with a story of treasure buried in the jungle and they go off to find it, but are caught by the cannibals. Robinson wields the pirates' guns and the pirates plead to be saved. Robinson agrees, and all set sail for Bristol once again, with the pirate chief, as ship's captain, marrying Robinson and Edwige at sea.

Numbers

Act 1

*Overture
*Introduction – "Et la maison était calme et prospère"
*Air de Robinson – "Voir, c'est avoir; allons courir"
*Ensemble – "A table donc, on fait grâce"
*Ronde – "Debout, c'est aujourd'hui dimanche"
*Ariette – "Tom était un danseur ingambe"
*Quatuor – "Ne le voyez-vous pas?"
*Romance – "S'il fallait qu'aujourd'hui"
*Ensemble – "Le voilà pris!"
*Duo – "Apprenez, mon cousin"
*Rondo – "Mon bon ami, j'ai réfléchi"
*Prière – "Seigneur, que ses jours soient bénis"
*Final – "Edwige, adieu"

Act 2, scene 1

*Entr'acte symphonique
*Grand air de Robinson – "Au seul bruit de mes pas … Salut, chaumière"
*La chanson de Vendredi – "Tamayo, mon frère"
*Duo – "Mon âme à ses regrets ne veut plus se rouvrir"
*Scène et rêve – "Le soleil fuit, l'ombre s'avance"

Act 2, scene 2

*Entr'acte – Marche des sauvages and Lever de rideau
*Mélodrame
*Chanson du pot-au-feu – "Je prends un vase de terre"
*Duo – "O mon Toby, mon doux ami"
*Mélodrame
*Choeur dansé – "Allons, guerriers des plages désertes"
*Scène – "Femmes, amenez la belle fiancée"
*Valse chantée – "Conduisez-moi vers celui que j'adore"

Act 3, scene 1

*Entr'acte
*Berceuse – "Beauté qui viens des cieux"
*Ariette – "Oui, c'est un brun, mais c'en est un"
*Trio – "Âme de mon âme"
*Sextuor – "Terrible homme des bois"
*Romance – "Je veux partir, bénissez-moi"
*Couplets – "Maître avait dit à Vendredi"
*Quatuor – "Veux-tu, mon bonhomme"

Act 3, scene 2

*Mélodrame
*Choeur de matelots – "Buvons, chantons"
*Scène – "Le chant des Tamayos"
*Final – "Partons, amis"

Revivals

In January 1868 Offenbach travelled to Vienna to oversee a production at the Theater an der Wien, and the opera was staged at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels the following month. A German version for production in Darmstadt was planned for 1870 but the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War put paid to that.Sterne, Ashley
"Defoe Defied"
'' Radio Times'', 23 April 1937, p. 8 The piece was given in the US by a children's company; a heavily adapted version was presented in Germany as ''Robinsonade'' in the 1930s; and the BBC
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