THE POSTILION OF LONGJUMEAU "The Postilion of Longjumeau," a comic opera in three acts, music by Adolphe Charles Adam and text by De Leuven and Brunswick, was presented at the Opera Comique, Paris, Oct. 13, 1836.
In the First Act.
Chapelou, the postilion. Bijou, a wheelwright.
Marquis de Courcy, Chamberlain to Louis XV.
Madelaine, mistress of the village inn.
Peasants, male and female.
In the Second and Third Acts.
Chapelou, under the name of St. Phar, principal tenor at the grand opera.
Bijou, under the name of Alcindor, the primo basso. Marquis de Courcy.
Madelaine, as Madame de la Tour.
Rose, Madam's maid.
Singers and coryphees at the opera, neighbors and friends of Madame de la Tour, soldiers, domestics.
Time, 1776 and 1786. Place, the village of Longjumeau and Paris.
The quaint little story of this opera is as follows: Chapelou has just married a young peasant girl, Madelaine, who lives in the post-house at Longjumeau. According to a provincial custom, the bride and groom are separated, the former seized by her friends and taken away and the latter commanded to entertain his comrades with a song. This he is well fitted to do, for he has a splendid voice. There is in the hostelry at the moment the Intendant-General of Louis XV., who is in quest of a tenor for the opera at Paris and he decides to gain the bridegroom for his own. Chapelou is so dazzled by his picture of the wealth and glory awaiting him, that he consents to abandon his bride and to go and claim them. He entrusts the task of telling Madelaine of his departure to Bijou, who is jealous of him for winning her. He then drives away.
The lady, however, is but little consoled by his promise to return. She quits Longjumeau and goes to live with an old aunt, who dies and leaves her a fortune. She educates herself and ten years later, with many added charms, a high position and the name of Mme. Latour, goes
to Paris to punish her husband, whom she cannot forget. Madelaine recognizes St. Phar, the lion of the Grand Opera, as the one-time postilion of Longjumeau. She is presented to him and receives his entire approval. He wishes to marry her but hesitates at bigamy and finally hits upon the scheme of having Bourbon, a chorus singer at the opera, assume the garb of a priest and perform the ceremony. This is brought to naught by the bride, who locks Bourbon up and secures the services of a genuine ecclesiastic. The Marquis de Courcy, who has designs on the hand of Mme. Latour, soon discovers that St. Phar is a bigamist and has been arrested. But Madelaine saves the day by coming forward in her peasant dress and the sorry hero finds that he has only remarried his own wife, who forgives him for his perfidy and all ends well.
The opera is tuneful, witty and graceful, the story affording a happy vehicle for Adam's rollicking fun. He produced over fifty operatic works but this is the best of them.
The favorite numbers are, in the first act, Madelaine's song, " Husband ever dear; " the famous postilion song, sung by Chapelou with whip snapping accompaniment ; Made laine's air from the balcony, " Come, come, my love to me; " in the second act, the humorous rehearsal scene, which includes Chapelou's " Beneath a spreading tree " and Alcin dor's (Bijou) " The Primo Basso, yes, am I." In the third act, the most interesting passage is the trio, or rather duo, sung by St. Phar and Madelaine, the latter imperson ating in the dark both the peasant maid and the great lady, much to the bewilderment of her husband.