La rose de Saint-Flour is a one-act opérette with music by Jacques Offenbach

Jacques Offenbach

Jacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....

 to a French libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 by Michel Carré

Michel Carré

Michel Carré was a prolific French librettist.He went to Paris in 1840 intending to become a painter but took up writing instead. He wrote verse and plays before turning to writing libretti. His libretto for Mirette was never performed in France but was later performed in English adaptation in...

, first performed in 1856.

Performance history

The premiere was on 12 June 1856 the Salle Lacaze, Paris, and the work shared its second performance on a bill with the "pièce de circonstance" Les Dragées de baptême, celebrating the christening of the Prince Imperial. The characters in the piece use Auvergnat accents in their dialogue and songs; Pradeau was pure Auvergnat and scored a hit as the jealous coppersmith. The work was much revived over the next twenty years and staged in Vienna. It was performed in England as The Rose of Auvergne, and a full translation with production details published.

Roles

Role	Voice type Voice type A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types...	Premiere cast, 12 June 1856 (Conductor: )
Pierrette	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...	Hortense Schneider Hortense Schneider Hortense Catherine Schneider, La Snédèr, was a French soprano, one of the greatest operetta stars of the 19th century, particularly associated with the works of composer Jacques Offenbach.-Biography:...
Chapailloux	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...	Charles Petit
Marcachu	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...	Pradeau

Synopsis

The scene is a cabaret run by Pierrette in Saint-Flour

Alone, Pierrette bemoans her broken cooking-pot and decides to borrow one when she goes out to buy groceries. She muses on her two admirers, the cobbler Chapailloux and the coppersmith Marcachu. As it is the festival of Saint-Pierre, and there will be dancing that night, she longs for a new pair of shoes with sequins to dance in, and a new unbreakable pot.

Marcachu brings in as a token of his love a new cooking-pot for Pierrette, hanging it by the fire-place with a bunch of flowers in, and leaves. Chapailloux next creeps in and puts his present of shoes on the table.

When Pierrette returns a tiff with Marcachu turns into a fight. They prepare the soup, into which unexpected ingredients are placed. When Chapailloux arrives, they eat and discover the contents of the soup, including one of Pierrette's shoes. Another fight ensues, and Marcachu storms off with his marmite.

Pierrette decides she would be better off with Chapailloux and he hesitantly agrees. Chapailloux gives his hand to Pierrette just as Marcachu re-enters to make up for all the damage, giving Pierrette a new chair, crockery and the cooking-pot.

A bourrée

Bourrée

The bourrée is a dance of French origin common in Auvergne and Biscay in Spain in the 17th century. It is danced in quick double time, somewhat resembling the gavotte. The main difference between the two is the anacrusis, or upbeat; a bourrée starts on the last beat of a bar, creating a...

 is heard as the signal for dancing. Marcachu concedes, hoping he might be, "comm' dans la Dame blanche

La Dame blanche

La dame blanche is an opéra comique in three acts by the French composer François-Adrien Boieldieu. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and is based on episodes from no less than five of the works by Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott, including his novels The Monastery, Guy Mannering, and The...

" god-father to their children. They dance and sing "Nous n'étions ni homm's ni femmes – Nous étions tous Auvergnats!" ("We are neither men nor women – we are Auvergnats!").

Musical numbers

• Overture
• Couplets "Entre les deux amours"
• Air "Chette marmite neuve mamjel est une preuve"
• Recitative and couplets "Ah! que cette maison… Pour les p'tits pieds de chelle que j'aime"
• Grand duo "Eh! la p'tit mère… Quand je cogn' ch'est pour de bon"
• Duetto "Monsieur de Marcachu – Monsieur de Chapaillou"
• Trio and couplets "Ah! Comm'nous nous amujames"
• Trio and finale "Je vous épouse et je vous tends la main"