Le roi malgré lui (The King in Spite of Himself or The Reluctant King) is an opéra-comique in three acts by Emmanuel Chabrier of 1887 with an original libretto by Emile de Najac and Paul Burani. The opera is revived occasionally, but has not yet found a place in repertory.
Eric Blom wrote that the tragic fate of the opera was to be written a quarter of a century too soon.Blom, Eric. Stepchildren of Music. G T Foulis & Company Ltd, London, 1923. XVI. The Tragedy of a Comic Opera, p173-179. However, the music has been greatly admired by composers including d'Indy, Ravel and Stravinsky.
Composition history Around May 1883 Chabrier wrote to his publishers that for his next stage work he was hoping to create something like Offenbach's successful 'grand fantaisie' Le roi Carotte.Delage,Emmanuel Chabrier, p.355. According to Victorin de Joncières, Chabrier had confided to him that he was looking for an amusing book to set. Joncières had been sent Le roi malgré lui, an old vaudeville of 1836First seen at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal on 19 September 1836 written by Marguerite-Louise Virginie Ancelot (1792–1875), by Ancelot's daughter Mme Lachaud.Maddocks F. "Le roi malgré lui:Grange Park Opera", Opera, September 2003, pp. 1130-31. For the 2003 production at Grange Park Opera the dialogue was prepared by Simon Callow from the original Ancelot play. However, Joncières passed the play to Chabrier, and also introduced Chabrier to Léon Carvalho, to whom Chabrier played some 'audition' pieces, which convinced the Opéra-Comique director to stage his work.Delage R. Chabrier, Iconographie musicale. Minkoff Lattès, 1982, p. 167.
An article by Theodore MassiacGils Blas, (29 September 1886) quoted in Delage, Emmanuel Chabrier, pp. 371-3. described in some detail Chabrier's composition process for Le roi malgré lui. He carefully supervised the work of the librettists Paul Burani and Emile de Najac in adapting the Ancelot work. Burani would send drafts of scenes and songs to de Najac who would send back comments and changes to Burani, and when, after some exchanges of correspondence de Najac was happy, he would send words to Chabrier to set to music. At his home at La Membrolle, Chabrier would read the words out loud in order to find the tone and rhythm of each piece and only after having played around with the text for some time would take up his pen and start composing. Chabrier did not compose at the piano – melody and rhythm came first with harmony later. He was particularly critical of being supplied with mute syllables. Finally, Jean Richepin, an old friend of the composer, had a major part in helping provide Chabrier with a libretto he could feel happy with.Delage, Emmanuel Chabrier, pp. 374-5. Chabrier noted on his copy of the libretto "manuscript by three authors and even by me", going on to describe the libretto as "a bouillabaisse of Najac and Burani, cooked by Richepin, into which I throw the spices". Although much criticized, the stage situations of Najac and Burani are "dexterously handled and reveal a sense of variety and climax".
The work is dedicated to Madame Victorin de Joncières. It was one of several works by Chabrier to benefit from a poster by Jules Chéret.Delage R. Chabrier, Iconographie musicale. Minkoff Lattès, 1982; see p. 170 for the Le roi malgré lui poster, p. 183 for Joyeuse Marche.
Performance history
The premiere was on 18 May 1887 at the Opéra-Comique (Salle Favart) in Paris. After two more performances, on 21 and 23 May, the Opéra-Comique theatre was ravaged by fire on 25 May, although the full score and orchestral parts were saved.Probably by the conductor Danbé (Delage R, p. 402). The fourth performance was on 16 November in a revised versionDelage R. Emmanuel Chabrier. Paris, Fayard, 1999, p. 408. at the Salle des Nations, where it had further performances up to 29 April 1888. This was the second time a premiere run of one of Chabrier's operas had been disrupted - Gwendoline had closed when the theatre went bankrupt.
The German premiere was in Karlsruhe on 2 March 1890 under Felix Mottl who also led a performance on 5 March at Baden, and this was followed by productions in Dresden on 26 April 1890 under Ernst von Schuch, and in Cologne on 15 October 1891 under Julius Hofmann. The opera was produced on 9 March 1892 in Toulouse under Armand Raynaud.Delage, Emmanuel Chabrier.
In 1929 after a 41-year absence from the Opéra-Comique repertoire, Albert Carré revised the text, and a new version was performed there on 6 November to greater acclaim (the 50th performance at the theatre took place on 21 February 1937). Casts included Roger Bourdin as Henri de Valois, Yvonne Brothier as Minka and Vina Bovy as Alexina.Wolff S. Un demi-siècle d'Opéra-Comique (1900–1950). André Bonne, Paris, 1953. There followed productions in Hamburg (17 April 1931), Brussels (16 May 1931) and Prague (27 August 1931).Loewenberg A. Annals of Opera. London, John Calder, 1978. The first performance in Marseille took place during the war on 3 April 1942.Jacono J-M. Marseille en liberté surveillée ? Les ambigüités de la vie musicale. In : Myriam Chimènes (ed.) : La vie musicale sous Vichy, Paris, 2001. André Cluytens conducted a local premiere for Lyon on 25 February 1943, also conducting the work at the Opéra-Comique in 1947 with Roger Bourdin, Louis Musy and Jean Vieuille in the cast and in 1950 with Denise Duval joining the cast.Baeck E. André Cluytens: Itinéraire d’un chef d’orchestre. Editions Mardaga, Wavre, 2009. A 1978 production at the Capitole de Toulouse conducted by Plasson using the Carré editionPitt, Charles. Report from Toulouse. Opera, July 1978, p706-08. was subsequently broadcast on French television in 1979, with Michel Philippe, Georges Liccioni, Michel Trempont, Françoise Garner and Michèle Le Bris in the principal roles.
The American stage premiere was on 18 November 1976 at the Juilliard, conducted by Manuel Rosenthal, with choreography by George Balanchine.Juilliard website The British stage premiere had to wait until the centenary of the composer's death, when it was produced in an adaptation by Jeremy Sams and Michael Wilcox at Opera North and also seen at the Edinburgh Festival.Maycock, Robert. Make love, not war: Robert Maycock on Le Roi malgré lui at Edinburgh Festival. The Independent, Monday, 5 September 1994.
More recently, an Opéra de Lyon production of 2004 was adapted for a revival at the Opéra-Comique in April 2009. Leon Botstein led the American Symphony Orchestra in a concert version at Avery Fisher Hall in 2005, and in a fully staged production directed by Thaddeus Strassberger at Bard Summerscape in 2012, a co-production seen later that year at the Wexford Festival Opera.
Roles RoleVoice typePremiere Cast,Opéra de Lyon Programme book. 2004.18 May 1887(Conductor: Jules Danbé)Revised Paris premiere,6 November 1929(Conductor: Louis Masson)Henri de Valois, ‘'King of Poland'’baritoneMax BouvetRoger BourdinComte de Nangis, a friend of HenritenorLouis DelaquerrièreMarcel ClaudelMinka, slave girl of LaskisopranoAdèle IsaacYvonne BrothierAlexina, Duchess of Fritelli and niece of LaskisopranoCécile MézerayJeanne GuylaLaski, a Polish noble, Minka's masterbassJoseph ThiérryJean VieuilleDuc de Fritelli, an Italian noble, husband of Alexina, chamberlain to the KingbaritoneLucien FugèreAged over 80, Fugère recorded the 'Couplets du polonais' and 'Couplets des gondoles' in May 1930 for Columbia; these recordings have been reissued on CD. Louis MusyBasile, innkeepertenorBarnolt Paul PayenLiancourt, a French nobletenorVictor Caisso Mathyld'Elboeuf, a French nobletenor MichaudAlban DerrojaMaugiron, a French noblebaritone Collin Émile RoqueComte de Caylus, a French noblebaritone Étienne TroyRoland LaignezMarquis de Villequier, a French noblebass Charles BalanquéAndré BalbonA soldierbass CambotRaymond GillesSix servant girlssoprano, mezzoMary, Auguez de Montaland, Blanche Balanqué, Esposito, Baria, Orea NardiJany Delille, Quénet,Pages, French nobles, Polish nobles, Soldiers, Serfs and Servants, People
Synopsis
Act 1 A castle outside Kraków, in 1574
The Polish people have elected a French noble, Henri de Valois, to become their king. In a castle near Kraków he awaits incognito his coronation.
French nobles are idly waiting for news from Kraków. Nangis, a friend of Henri, returns from the city, where he had been sent to drum up support for the future king. Although the ordinary people had been well-disposed towards Henri, the nobility, led by Count Albert Laski, seemed to be joining together to oppose him and support the other claimant to the throne, the Archduke of Austria.
However, the Duke of Fritelli, a Venetian living in Poland, has managed to become Henri's chamberlain while remaining in league with Laski. He enters, busy with preparations for the coronation, pretending to Nangis that he does not know Laski, and, on learning of the king's continued homesickness, cannot resist airing his views on the differences between the Poles and the French in a comic song.
After Fritelli has gone, Nangis confesses to his friends that during the eight days he has been away trying to raise an army, he has fallen in love with a charming girl, Minka, who unfortunately is a slave in Laski's household. Minka now enters, avoiding a pursuing sentry; she tells Nangis that she has only come for a moment, but when Nangis takes this to mean that she does not love him anymore, she gently rebukes him and asks him to be patient. She promises to return later that day, but as she is about to leave, the king himself arrives and Nangis only has time to hide her in an anteroom.
The homesick king sings of his love for France and says that he would do anything not to be king of Poland. Nangis reminds him that he has not always been so ill-disposed to the Poles; there was a certain lady Henri had known in Venice... Henri's fond memories are interrupted by the return of Fritelli, and it soon becomes apparent that the lady with whom Henri had a liaison in Venice soon after became the wife of Fritelli in order to cover up the scandal of that affair.
When Henri and Nangis leave, Fritelli is naturally more determined than ever to rid Poland of Henri. His frenzy is cut short by the arrival of his wife, Alexina, who says that all is ready for Henri's departure: all Fritelli has to do is kidnap Henri and Laski's men will do the rest. When the frightened Fritelli says he does not want glory - just a bit of affection, Alexina brushes his objections aside and they leave.
Minka comes out of hiding, but she bumps into the king (whom she doesn't know). She says she loves Monsieur Nangis but is worried that there is a plot against the king. Henri can hardly contain his delight, which increases more when she says that Fritelli is implicated. When Minka has left, Henri sends for Fritelli, and after some initial resistance he confesses the plot to Henri and tells him all he wants to know. Fritelli is astonished when Henri says that he too wishes to join the conspiracy; Fritelli is to introduce him to Laski as the Count de Nangis.
Trumpets sound and the French courtiers assemble. Henri has Nangis arrested, so as to be able to use his identity to conspire against the king. Nangis is led away.
Fritelli presents Henri (as Nangis) to his wife, Alexina, who recognizes him as the Frenchman with whom she had had the affair in Venice years before. Minka's lone voice is heard off-stage, and as the curtain falls, Nangis manages to let slip his captors, jump out of a window and escape.
Act 2 The ballroom of the palace of the Count Albert Laski