Barkouf is an opéra bouffe in three acts premiered in 1860 with music composed by Jacques Offenbach to a French libretto by Eugène Scribe and Henry Boisseaux, after Abbé Blanchet, the fourth of his Contes Orientaux entitled Barkouf et Mani. The title role is a dog. It was the first work by the composer to be performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, but after its initial performances was not performed again until 2018.
Background
Having found success with one-act pieces and the longer works at the Bouffes-Parisiens, Barkouf was Offenbach's first attempt to enter the repertoire of one of the major Paris operas houses, the Opéra-Comique, which was to culminate in Les Contes d'Hoffmann in 1881. Commissioned by the house, it aroused hostility from singers during rehearsal and critics at the premiere. The new head of the Opéra-Comique, Alfred Beaumont, took up post in June 1860 and hoped to deploy Offenbach's burgeoning fame by coupling him with the famous librettist Eugene Scribe. The latter had a libretto sketched out on the subject which was intended for Clapisson, as a vehicle for Delphine Ugalde, and Scribe's younger collaborator Boisseaux set to work to complete the elder man's plan. By mid-August the Paris papers had announced that the work (at that point called Le Sultan Barkouf) had been cast and rehearsals had begun. Some of the principals were outraged that Offenbach had been allowed to compose for France's second most important stage, and Ugalde led the criticism. There next followed problems with the censor, which while noting that the "strange" piece took place in a land of fantasy and make-believe, objected to the reference that the vice-roys of Lahore were being defenestrated and banned the opera. Beaumont interceded with the censor and managed to get away with changing references to terms such as 'sovereign' and 'master' to less specific descriptions. With these and other minor changes and swayed by Beaumont insistence that cancellation would cost his new administration too much, the censor passed the work. The withdrawal of Ugalde, to be replaced as Maïma first by Mlle de Saint-Urbain, then when she became ill, by Mlle Marimon, all of which delayed rehearsals further. The work was eventually performed at the second Salle Favart, the home of the Opéra-Comique, on 24, 26, 28, 31 December 1860, 2, 10, 12, and 16 January 1861, with several changes of cast. Yon feels that the audience reaction was good and the lack of commitment from the cast should not be over-estimated; it was the violence of the critical reaction which prevented a lasting success for Barkouf.
Along with Scudo and Duchene, Berlioz was especially critical, attacking Offenbach's craftsmanship and questioning the 'twisted' minds of 'certain musicians', and the introduction of 'bouffe' elements at the Opéra-Comique while stating that he never set foot in such theatres. In his Dictionnaire des opéras of 1869, Félix Clément noted the light and ingenious construction of two or three choral movements, but was otherwise disappointed by the lack of originality shown by the composer. Modern views have tended to challenge this view; the conductor of the Strasbourg revival claims that Barkouf is "an important work... an opera to be counted among the greatest successes of its composer" and that the 100 minutes of music in Barkouf are worthy of enthusiastic support. Some of the music was re-used in Boule-de-neige of 1871, substituting a bear for the dog in the title-role.
After closing in early 1861 the work was not revived until December 2018, when the Opéra du Rhin staged it in Strasbourg on the 7th of December, conducted by Jacques Lacombe and directed by Mariame Clément, who rewrote much of the spoken dialogue.