Surcouf is a French opéra comique in three acts and a prologue, music by Robert Planquette, libretto by Henri Chivot and Alfred Duru, premiered on 6 October 1887 at the Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques in Paris. It ran for a modestly successful 96 performances.
An English version was given in London at the Prince of Wales Theatre in January 1889, under the title Paul Jones, in an adaptation by H. B. Farnie. This version did better at the box-office than the original Paris production, running in the West End for most of 1889, and being staged subsequently around the British Isles and in Australia and the US.
Background and first performance
Planquette had come to national and international notice ten years earlier, with his opéra comique Les cloches de Corneville (1877), which broke box-office records in Paris and London. Over the succeeding decade he had some further successes but nothing to match that of the 1877 work. Chivot and Duru were an experienced team of librettists who had written the words for successes by Charles Lecocq and Edmond Audran. This was the only work on which the three collaborated.
The librettists took as their central character a real historical figure, Robert Surcouf, a French privateer of the period during and after the French Revolution. The first performance of the opera was at the Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques on 6 October 1887, where it ran until 27 December, a total of 96 performances, a reasonable run for the period, but not a spectacular success.
Original cast
Robert Surcouf – Louis-Auguste Morlet
Kerbiniou – M. Montrouge
Gargousse – Charles Constant Gobin
Flageolet – A. Guiton fils
MacFarlane – M. Duhamel
Thompson – M. Marcelin
Marcof – M. Riga
Paimboeuf – M. Speck
William – M. Gelly
Harry – M. Milot
Arabelle – J. Darcourt
Yvonne – Mdlle. Darcelle
Madame Paimboeuf – Mdlle. Barthe
Agathe – Mdlle. Sarah
Source: The Era.
Synopsis
Prologue
The prologue is set in 1798 in the Channel port of Saint-Malo, where the historical Surcouf was born. He is first portrayed as a young man, employed by a rich shipowner called Kerbiniou. Surcouf loves his employer's niece, Yvonne, but Kerbiniou forbids the marriage because Surcouf has no money. Resolving to earn enough to marry Yvonne, Surcouf volunteers for service in a privateer ship commanded by Maroof. Yvonne promises to wait for his return if he comes back within four years.
Act I
Four years have elapsed and an uneasy peace prevails between Britain and France. Surcouf has not returned; he is rumoured to be dead. Yvonne has remained faithful to her vow. Kerbiniou has married a young English widow, Arabelle, who has encouraged Yvonne to marry another Briton, Captain Thompson of the Royal Navy. Surcouf returns, vastly enriched by booty captured from British ships. But Yvonne is away, on a pilgrimage. Being a native of perfidious Albion Madame Kerbiniou, determined that her niece by marriage will marry Thompson, spins Surcouf a false story, telling him that Yvonne has already married the Englishman. Infuriated, Surcouf challenges Thompson to a duel. Before the duel can take place, Yvonne returns and the truth is discovered. Thompson, learning that France and Britain are now once again at war has his men ambush and overpower Surcouf. The British government has put a price on Surcouf's head, and he is carried on board Thompson's ship, which sets sail for England. Two of Surcouf's crew, Gargousse and Flageolet, having witnessed the kidnapping alert their shipmates and the pirate corvette sets off in hot pursuit of the British ship. Yvonne, anxious to join her lover, is on board.
Act II
The action takes place in a British Channel port, commanded by the preposterous and dim-witted Major MacFarlane. He is Arabelle Kebiniou's uncle, and she is in the town. Surcouf breaks free of his captors but in his flight he meets Arabelle. She is about to call the troops when he tells her that they are older acquaintances than she realises. It was he who rescued her from a crocodile while she was bathing in Sumatra. Arabelle ceases to be his enemy and becomes his firm friend. To protect him she introduces him to Major MacFarlane as her husband. When Kerbiniou appears on the scene MacFarlane takes him for the missing pirate and has him arrested. Captain Thompson's arrival clears up the error and Surcouf is arrested in Kerbiniou's place. Before he can be led to prison his men arrive, overcome the incompetent and cowardly English, and march off in triumph with their chief to their ship.