Les rendez-vous bourgeois is an opéra bouffon

Opéra bouffon

Opéra bouffon is the French term for the Italian genre of opera called opera buffa performed in 18th-century France, either in the original language or in French translation...

 in one act by Nicolas Isouard

Nicolas Isouard

Nicolas Isouard was a Maltese composer.Isouard studied in Valletta with Francesco Azopardi, in Palermo with Giuseppe Amendola, and in Naples with Nicola Sala and Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi. From 1795 he was organist at St...

 to a French libretto by François Benoît Hoffmann

François Benoît Hoffmann

François-Benoît Hoffman was a French playwright and critic, best known today for his operatic librettos, including those set to music by Étienne Méhul and Luigi Cherubini .-Career:...

, in the form of an opéra comique

Opéra comique

Opéra comique is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged out of the popular opéra comiques en vaudevilles of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent , which combined existing popular tunes with spoken sections...

with spoken dialogue between the musical numbers. The work was first performed at the Opéra-Comique

Opéra-Comique

The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian 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 Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...

, 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 9 May 1807.

It became a regular part of the Opéra-Comique repertoire, being performed over 760 times there up to the 1930s. The score consists of an overture and ten vocal numbers. Once in the public domain it was mounted at the Bouffes-Parisiens and the Théâtre de la Gaîté

Théâtre de la Gaîté (rue Papin)

In 1862 during Haussmann's modernization of Paris the Théâtre de la Gaîté of the boulevard du Temple was relocated to the rue Papin across from the Square des Arts et Métiers....

, then the Théâtre de la Renaissance

Théâtre de la Renaissance

The name Théâtre de la Renaissance has been used successively for three distinct Parisian theatre companies. The first two companies, which were short-lived enterprises in the 19th century, used the Salle Ventadour, now an office building on the Rue Méhul in the 2nd arrondissement.The current...

 on 11 March 1879 for 25 performances, with a cast including Jean-François Berthelier as Bertrand, Jane Hading as Charles and Mily-Meyer

Mily-Meyer

Émilie Mily Meyer, stage name 'Mily-Meyer' was a French soprano, born 1852 in Paris, died there in 1927, who for a quarter of a century became a major star of the Parisian operetta stage, and is described by Gänzl as "impishly boyish yet obviously feminine soubrette".-Career:Her professional début...

 as Louise. Other notable singers to have sung in the opera include Alice Ducasse

Alice Ducasse

Anne-Elisa Alice Ducasse, born 1846 in Valparaiso, , was an opera singer and teacher active in Paris.As a member of the company at the Théâtre Lyrique under Pasdeloup and Vizentini she sang various roles at that theatre, creating Mab in Bizet's La jolie fille de Perth, as well as Nérine in...

, Barnolt

Barnolt

Barnolt was the stage name of Paul Fleuret , a French operatic tenor associated with the Opéra-Comique in Paris.-Career:After a year of study at the Paris Conservatoire, where his teachers included Charles Bataille, Barnolt made his debut at the Folies-Marigny and further appearances at the...

 (Bertrand), Jean Vieuille

Jean Vieuille

Jean Vieuille was a French Bass-Baritone, born Paris, 14 February 1902, died St Georges de Didonne, 6 April 1967.His teachers were Albert Carré, Léon David and Félix Vieuille...

, Galli-Marié (Cesar), Esther Chevalier

Esther Chevalier

Esther Chevalier was a French mezzo-soprano, active in Paris almost exclusively at the Opéra-Comique, appearing in several operatic premieres there....

 (Julie), and Félix Vieuille

Félix Vieuille

Félix Vieuille was a French operatic bass who sang for more than four decades with the Opéra-Comique in Paris during the first half of the twentieth century...

 (Dugravier).

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast
Julie, maid of Reine and Louise	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...	Saint Aubin
Reine, daughter of Dugravier	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...	Pellet
Louise, niece of Dugravier	soprano	Moreau
Dugravier, a retired timber merchant	bass	Juliet
Jasmin, valet, in love with Julie	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...	Moreau
Charles, lover of Louise	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...	Paul
Bertrand, Dugravier’s valet	tenor	Lesage
César, lover of Reine	tenor	Huet

Synopsis

The action takes place in 1807 in the living room of a country house, near the forest of Bondy.
Dugravier lives with his daughter Reine, his niece Louise and his servants Julie and Bertrand. The latter is in love with Julie but she favours Jasmin, a valet in a nearby house, visiting the Dugravier home.
Dugravier decides to go to Paris with Bertrand to arrange marriages for Reine and Louise with the sons of two rich gentlemen. They depart at nightfall, through the bandit-ridden forest.
With Dugravier gone, Louise confides to Julie that she has a lover, Charles, with whom she has an assignation that night, while Reine confesses that she too is to meet her own César.
Charles, Caesar and Jasmin hide upon the unexpected return of Dugravier, who says that he has met brigands on his way. The three young men then escape through a window, but return shortly after, claiming to have fought off the imaginary bandits. They introduce themselves as the two sons of the Parisians, and Dugravier gratefully agrees to all three marriages.