Giroflé-Girofla

An opéra bouffe in three acts set to a libretto by Albert Vanloo and Eugène Leterrier, Giroflé-Girofla was performed for the first time in Brussels at the Fantaisies-Parisiennes, on 21 March 1874. The French premiere of the work was given at the Théâtre de la Renaissance on 11 November of the same year, with the famous Jeanne Granier in the title role. The action is set in Spain, in the mid-13th century. Don Bolero of Alcaras, the Duke of Malaga and governor of the region, is completely under the thumb of his domineering wife. He is the father of two absolutely identical twin girls, Giroflé and Girofla, played by the same singer. In debt to the tune of four million to the banker Marasquin and under combined attack from dangerous pirates who are imposing a reign of terror along his stretch of coast and from the fearsome Mourzouk, he finds himself forced to marry off his daughters, one to his creditor, the other to his enemy. Betrothed to the latter, Girofla is abducted by the pirates and, faced with Mourzouk’s impatience, Giroflé, who has already married the banker, with whom she has fallen immediately in love, passes herself off as her twin. What follows is a sequence of events that only fuel the rage of the terrible Mourzouk, whose meeting with his wife is continually being postponed. He eventually finds out what has been going on and all seems lost for the governor’s family, when Matamore turns up, bringing Girofla back from the pirates. Order is finally restored and the two couples live happily ever after. After Les Cent Vierges and Madame Angot, Lecocq had his third great operatic hit with this opéra bouffe. Following its success in Paris—the work remained on the bill for over two hundred performances—Giroflé-Girofla was staged in London on 3 October 1874, then all over the world, from Sydney to New York, including Berlin, Prague and even Buenos Aires.