thumb|upright=1.15|alt=colourful poster showing characters in 16-century costumes|Poster for first production, 1880

La mascotte (The Mascot) is a three-act opéra comique with music by Edmond Audran and words by Alfred Duru and Henri Chivot. The story concerns a farm girl who is a "mascotte": someone with the mystic power to bring good luck to all around her, so long as she remains a virgin.

The opera opened at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens, Paris, on 28 December 1880, and had an initial run of 301 performances. Productions followed in other continental European countries, the Americas, Britain and Australia. The title of the piece introduced the word "mascotte" into standard French usage, "mascot" into English, and other variants of it into several more languages.

Background and first production

In 1880 "mascotte" was a fairly new French slang word derived from the Provençal term mascoto, meaning "spell" or "bewitchment". A journalist reported after the premiere of the opera that he had looked in vain for "mascotte" in the Dictionnaire de l'Académie française and four other authoritative dictionaries. The current (9th) edition of the Académie's dictionary defines the word as "Personne, animal ou objet qui est regardé comme fétiche, comme porte-bonheur" – "Person, animal or object that is regarded as a fetish, as a lucky charm". The word was absorbed into English as "mascot" (1881)|group= n According to Audran's son, the inspiration for La mascotte came from a trinket given to Audran's wife, who was from Provençe, by her seafaring brother; it was a good-luck charm that nobody but Madame Audran was allowed to touch: "Edmond, ne touche pas à ma mascotte". Audran conceived the idea that a person might also be a mascotte, and suggested this as a theme to his collaborators, the librettists Alfred Duru and Henri Chivot.

La mascotte came near the beginning of Audran's career as a composer of works for the Parisian stage. His first big success, Les noces d'Olivette, opened at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens in 1879, and La mascotte was written for the same house. It opened on 28 December 1880 and ran for 472 performances, taking well over a million francs at the box office. The success of La mascotte was so great that the intendant of the Bouffes-Parisiens and Audran entered into a five-year contract under which Audran would compose for no other Paris theatre.

At the premiere of the piece four principals were making their Paris debuts, all of them successfully. The two women were Marie Montbazon (later known as Marie Grisier-Montbazon), who played Bettina, and Mdlle Dinelli (Fiametta). The former was from a theatrical family well known in the French provinces, making her Paris debut at the age of 21; she went on to a successful career, starring in new works by Audran and others during the 1880s and 1890s. Dinelli as Fiametta was equally well received, but had a short career, curtailed by mental illness in 1883. The two male débutants were the tenors: the lyric Lamy and the comic Raucourt, both praised by the Revue musicale.

Roles

{| class="wikitable"

!Role

!Voice type

!Original cast

|-

| Laurent XVII, Prince of Piombino

|baritone

|Paul Hittemans

|-

| Fiametta, his daughter

|soprano

|Dinelli

|-

| Prince Fritellini of Pisa, Fiametta's fiancé

|tenor

|Charles Lamy

|-

| Rocco, a farmer

|tenor

|Raucourt

|-

| Pippo, a shepherd

|baritone

|Louis Morlet

|-

| Bettina, the mascot

|mezzo-soprano

|Marie Montbazon

|-

| Parafante, sergeant

|baritone

|Pescheux

|-

| Mathéo, inn-keeper

|bass

|Desmonts

|-

| colspan="3" |Peasants, lords and ladies of court, soldiers, etc.

|-

|}

:Source: Vocal score.

Numbers

thumb|1881 vocal score|alt=cover of musical score, with black and white engraving of young man and young woman in 16th century costume

  • Acte I
  • Overture
  • Chorus – "La vendange se termine" – Harvesting is over
  • Couplets of sweet wine (3 peasants) – "Il fait fuir l'humeur morose" – It banishes gloom
  • Ballade (Pippo, chorus) – "Un jour le diable" – One day the devil
  • Chorus of village boys – "Allons la belle" – Come, pretty one
  • Couplets (Bettina) – "N'avancez pas ou je tape" – Don't approach me or I'll hit you
  • Chorus – "On aime à voir après la chasse" – After the hunt one loves to see
  • Couplets of omens (Laurent) – "Les gens sensés et sages" – Wise and sagacious people
  • Couplets (Fiametta) – "Ah! qu'il est beau" – Ah, how fine it is
  • Couplets of "je ne sais quoi" (Fritellini, Fiametta) – "D'un athlète ou d'un villageois" – An athlete or a villager
  • Duet (Bettina, Pippo) – "Je sens lorsque je t'aperçois" – I feel when I see you
  • Finale (all) – "On sonne, on sonne" – They ring the bells
  • Act II
  • Entr'acte
  • Chorus – "Qu'elle est belle" – She is beautiful,
  • Couplets (pages) – "Excusez mon audace extrême" – Excuse my extreme boldness
  • Duet (Bettina, Laurent) – "Ah laissez-moi!" – Oh leave me!
  • Couplets (Bettina) – "Que je regrette mon village" – How I miss my village
  • Chorus – "Ah! quel spectacle charmant" – Ah, what a charming sight
  • Air (Pippo) – "Salut à vous seigneur!" – Hail, Prince
  • Duet (Pippo, Bettina) – "Sais-tu que ces beaux habits-là" – Do you know these beautiful clothes
  • Couplets (Fritellini) – "Des courtisans qui passeront" – Courtiers, as they pass
  • Couplets (Laurent) – "Chasser le cerf au son du cor" – Hunting the deer to the sound of the horn
  • Finale (all) – "C'est le futur de la princesse" – He is the princess's intended
  • Acte III
  • Entr'acte
  • Chorus of soldiers – "Verse, verse à boire" – Pour, pour the drinks
  • Entrance of the Prince (Fritellini) – "Très bien? bonjour, soldat" et – Very good, hello, soldier
  • Couplets of the tambour (Fritellini) – "De nos pas marquant la cadence" – Marking time for our steps
  • Entrance of the strolling minstrels (chorus) – "Ne tremblez pas braves gens" – Do not tremble, good people
  • Song of the orang-outan (Fiametta) – "Le grand singe d'Amérique" – The great ape of America
  • Entrance of the wedding party (Pippo, chorus) – "Je touche au but" – I am nearing the goal
  • Quartet (Bettina, Pipo, Laurent, Rocco) – "Quoi Pippo! quand je vous réclame" – What Pippo! When I call you
  • Finale (all) – "Pourquoi donc crier ainsi" – Why shout so.

:::Source: Vocal score.

Revivals and adaptations

thumb|The principal cast of La Mascotte at the Comedy Theatre in London, 1881There were twelve revivals of the piece in Paris between 1883 and 1944.

The work was presented in Vienna at the Theater an der Wien on 12 February 1881 and revived in 1893. The first production in New York was at the Bijou Opera House on 5 May 1881, starring Emma Howson. Ten New York revivals between then and 1887 (including one in German) are detailed in Gänzl's Book of the Musical Theatre, which notes that there were regular productions in subsequent years, including 1892, 1909 and 1926. There were productions in Italy (1882) and Brazil (1888). The town of Piombino in Tuscany, where the opera is supposedly set, staged a production in 2012.

A film version of The Mascot was directed by Léon Mathot in 1935 starring Germaine Roger, Lucien Baroux|group= n The writer observed that he had judged the score by higher standards than applied to most light operatic shows, which was a compliment to Audran; of the twenty-plus numbers in his score, there were five or six where the composer's personal imagination and musicianship were, the reviewer considered, displayed with complete originality. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, "Many of [Audran's] operas, La mascotte in particular, reveal a degree of musicianship which is rarely associated with the ephemeral productions of the lighter stage."

Recordings

The Académie Nationale de l'Opérette lists two complete recordings of the opera, one conducted by Ronald Benedetti, with Geneviève Moizan, Denise Cauchard, Robert Massard and Lucien Baroux, and the other conducted by Marcel Cariven, with Freda Betti, Huguette Hennetier, Willy Clément, Gaston Rey, Raymond Amade and Robert Destain. The Académie Nationale site lists two complete video recordings, the first from 1957, the second from 1961, both conducted by Georges Derveaux.

Notes, references and sources

Notes

References

Sources

  • Vocal score in English, including plot synopsis