Le Docteur Miracle

A few months after the opening of the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, Jacques Offenbach organised a competition for composers, announced to great fanfare in July 1856. This publicity stunt for the composer’s theatre also reflected his aesthetic aims: the rules, widely publicised in the press, were introduced by an ambitious programmatic text evoking the glorious history of French opéra-comique and demanding that comic genres should continue to enjoy special standing in Paris. The panel of judges, headed by Daniel Auber, initially selected contestants based on a free composition, then invited the finalists to write the score of a one-act opéra-comiqueto a libretto by Léon Battu and Ludovic Halévy: Le Docteur Miracle.The subject fell completely within the tradition of 18th-century French opéra-comique: a young soldier disguises himself to win the hand of Laurette, daughter of the Mayor of Padua. In retrospect, the prize-winners chosen demonstrated the insight of the judges and the value of Offenbach’s initiative: in joint first place were Georges Bizet and Charles Lecocq, two composers destined to become leading figures in French opera in the latter half of the 19th century. However, the two operas, premiered on 8 and 9 April 1857, enjoyed little public success. In the press, Lecoq was generally regarded as less ambitious than Bizet: for instance, after the performances, Le Figaro sarcastically declared that “His [Bizet’s] methods and motifs are not entirely new; but it is far better to use other people’s ideas than to do without ideas at all”.