Faded into oblivion and absent from stages since 1879, the vivacious Maître Péronilla was lavishly put on at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in the Spring of 2019 to celebrate 200 years since the birth of Jacques Offenbach. This publication is the result of a collaboration between the Bru-Zane Foundation and Radio France for the recording. This piece of music was written in the last few years of Offenbach’s life, a Spanish language operetta that was part of the wave of Spanish fever that was crashing over France since Bizet and Chabrier and that would last until Debussy and Ravel. With its frenzied rhythm and signature Offenbach dialogue (aided by Nuitter and Ferrier, who hit the mark at every occasion), this work cheerfully borrows from a variety of styles while reprising a few of the composer’s older techniques but with a new sense of refinement that supersedes the previously light atmosphere.
The rarity of this work is partly due to the convoluted nature of the libretto. The plotline revolves around an arranged marriage, presenting twenty different characters from three separate generations. The wonderful cast of singers has done a great job of reviving the opera buffa, with Antoinette Dennefeld playing young but tender scholar Frimouskino standing out. Eric Huchet and Véronique Gens are at the pinnacle of the joy and vivacity that seem to have taken hold of the whole cast of protagonists of this production directed by Markus Poschner who also conducts the National Orchestra of France and the Radio France choir. © François Hudry