Chilpéric is an opéra bouffe

Opéra bouffe

Opéra bouffe is a genre of late 19th-century French operetta, closely associated with Jacques Offenbach, who produced many of them at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens that gave its name to the form....

with libretto and music by Hervé

Hervé (composer)

Hervé , real name Louis Auguste Florimond Ronger, was a French singer, composer, librettist, conductor and scene painter, whom Ernest Newman, following Reynaldo Hahn, credited with inventing the genre of operetta in Paris.-Life:Hervé was born in Houdain near Arras...

, first produced in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 on 24 October 1868 at the Théâtre des Folies-Dramatique in Paris. A burlesque of the medieval, Chilpéric starred Hervé in the title role.

During a successful revival of the operetta at the Théâtre des Variétés in Paris in 1895, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec painted Marcelle Lender

Marcelle Lender

Marcelle Lender was a French singer, dancer and entertainer made famous in paintings by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.Born Anne-Marie Marcelle Bastien, she began dancing at the age of sixteen and within a few years made a name for herself performing at the Théâtre des Variétés in Montmartre.Marcelle...

 performing a bolero from the operetta in his painting Chilpéric.

The piece was mounted in London at the Lyceum Theatre in 1870 in English starring the author and Selina Dolaro

Selina Dolaro

Selina Dolaro was an English singer, actress, theatre manager and writer. During a career in operetta and other forms of musical theatre, she managed several of her own opera companies and raised four children as a single mother...

 and in an adaptation by H. B. Farnie

Henry Brougham Farnie

Henry Brougham Farnie , often called H. B. Farnie, was a British librettist and adapter of French operettas and an author...

 at the Empire Theatre in 1884.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 24 October 1868 (Conductor: Moreau-Sainti)
Chilpéric	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Hervé Hervé (composer) Hervé , real name Louis Auguste Florimond Ronger, was a French singer, composer, librettist, conductor and scene painter, whom Ernest Newman, following Reynaldo Hahn, credited with inventing the genre of operetta in Paris.-Life:Hervé was born in Houdain near Arras...
Frédégonde	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Blanche d'Antigny Blanche d'Antigny Blanche d'Antigny was a French singer and actress whose fame today rests chiefly on the fact that Émile Zola used her as the principal model for his novel Nana.-History:...
Landry	tenor	Mendasti
Galswinthe	contralto Contralto Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...	Berthal
Brunehaut	soprano	Caroline Jullien
Sigibert	bass	Berret
Alfred	soprano	Léontine Gouvion
Fana	mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...	Atala Massue
Don Nervoso	tenor	Monroy
Ricin	bass	Ange Milher
Grand legendaire	tenor	Chaudesaigues

Synopsis

Chilpéric is based on the story of the Merovingian king Chilperic I

Chilperic I

Chilperic I was the king of Neustria from 561 to his death. He was one of the sons of the Frankish king Clotaire I and Queen Aregund....

, who ruled from 561-584.

In Act I, Landry, a shepherd, and Frédégonde are discovered by a royal hunting party in the woods. Chilperic takes Frédégonde on as a laundress and appoints Landry as his major domo.

In Act II, Chilperic has taken Frédégonde as his mistress but is preparing to dismiss her in favor of marriage to Galswinthe. Landry has turned his own amorous attentions to Chilperic's sister-in-law, Brunehaut. A forsaken Frédégonde tries to interrupt Chilperic's marriage to Galswinthe, but is turned away.

In Act III, Chilperic is forced away from his marriage bed by events of state and Frédégonde triggers a trap door to put Galswinthe in a dungeon. Chilperic manages to rescue Galswinthe and pardons Frédégonde.