''Le château à Toto'' (''Toto’s castle'') is an

opéra bouffe ''Opéra bouffe'' (, plural: ''opéras bouffes'') is a genre of mid- to late 19th-century French operetta, closely associated with Jacques Offenbach, who produced many of them at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, inspiring the genre's name. It ...

in three acts of 1868 with music 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 ...

. The

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

libretto was by

Henri Meilhac Henri Meilhac (; 23 February 1830 – 6 July 1897) was a prolific French playwright and opera librettist, known for his collaborations with Ludovic Halévy on comic operas with music by Jacques Offenbach. He also wrote occasionally for serious w ...

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 ...

. It is situated in an important sequence of fifteen opera works and revivals by Offenbach between 1867 and 1869.

Background

Offenbach began work on the piece in January 1868 while staying in Nice; he was also composing ''Les brigands'' and ''

Vert-Vert ''Vert-Vert'' is an opéra comique in three acts by Jacques Offenbach, with a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Charles Nuitter, first performed on 10 March 1869 at the Paris Opéra-Comique. Based on the 1734 poem « Vert-Vert ou les voyages du perro ...

'' at the time. The piece was premiered in the

Théâtre du Palais-Royal The Théâtre du Palais-Royal () is a 750-seat Parisian theatre at 38 rue de Montpensier, located at the northwest corner of the Palais-Royal in the Galerie de Montpensier at its intersection with the Galerie de Beaujolais. Brief history O ...

in Paris but achieved nothing like the success of his previous venture at that theatre, '' La Vie parisienne''.Yon, Jean-Claude. ''Jacques Offenbach.'' Éditions Gallimard, Paris, 2000. Despite having as many disguises as the earlier work, and some isolated successful numbers such as the ‘ café-concert’ song of the rural postman (where he debates the merits of long or short legs, and the value of the

penny-farthing The penny-farthing, also known as a high wheel, high wheeler or ordinary, is an early type of bicycle. It was popular in the 1870s and 1880s, with its large front wheel providing high speeds, owing to it travelling a large distance for every ro ...

), the work closed by the end of July. After the initial run, a two-act version was staged at the Palais-Royal on 16 December 1868 with Lucy Arbell as Toto, but this closed by the end of the year. The work was seen at the

Carltheater The Carltheater was a theatre in Vienna. It was in the suburbs in Leopoldstadt at Praterstraße 31 (at that time called Jägerzeile). It was the successor to the Leopoldstädter Theater. After a series of financial difficulties, that theater had ...

in Vienna in February 1869. The critical edition of ''Le château à Toto'' in the Offenbach Edition Keck has been performed in Frankfurt (2003) and at the Offenbach Festival des Châteaux de Bruniquel (2008, 2024). Although no complete recording is available, excerpts have appeared on the anthologies 'Offenbach au menu' and 'Entre Nous'.

Roles

Synopsis

:''Time and place: Normandy, the present''

Act 1

Hector de la Roche-Trompette, called 'Toto', has blown his fortune in the pleasures of Paris, and returns home in order to auction his ancestral home. The neighbouring Baron Jean de Crécy-Crécy plans to take advantage of this opportunity to win the centuries-old feud between the Crécy-Crécys and the Roche-Trompettes, and use the castle as kennels and stables. The local notary Ernest Massepain is organising the sale. Toto, accompanied by the Marquis Raoul de la Pépinière and the Vicomtesse de La Farandole come to stay at Catherine's farm. Raoul is fascinated by Catherine who browbeats her admirer Pitou. Toto is moved by the affection shown to him by the daughter of the Baron, Jeanne.

Act 2

In the second act the Vicomtesse (in reality the worldly Blanche Taupier, once a peasant in the regionMentioned by Bobinet (along with a female relative of the Roche-Trompettes) in the first act of ''La vie parisienne'' http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/La_Vie_parisienne_(1866)) expresses the wish to buy the castle. Crécy-Crécy bids as much as he can, but he and the Vicomtesse are outdone by the old General Bougachard – Pitou in disguise, to whom Jeanne has lent her dowry to outdo her father. After the sale during the celebration Pitou loses his disguise and is discovered; he escapes to Catherine's farm, where Toto, Raoul and the Vicomtesse are staying. He flees just as a rural patrol (none other than Massepain, disguised in order to get near the ‘Vicomtesse’) approaches.

Act 3

In the final act the Baron also resorts to disguise, as a rural postman, as he also wishes to court the Vicomtesse. While Catherine finds Raoul too common for her liking, Pitou, dressed as a dandy wins her heart finally. The Baron de Crécy-Crécy is unmasked and obliged to allow Jeanne to marry Toto, who will therefore be able to keep the family castle; her father wins over the ‘Vicomtesse’. Toto renounces the pleasures of Paris to return to the simple joys of the country life.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chateau A Toto Operas by Jacques Offenbach Opéras bouffes French-language operas Operas 1868 operas Operas set in France Libretti by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy