Mârouf

First performed at the Opéra-Comique on 15 May 1914, Mârouf is an opéra-comique in five acts set to a libretto by Lucien Népoty, taken from the French translation of the Arabian Nights by Joseph-Charles Mardrus. After his wife has wrongly accused him of beating her, Mârouf, a humble cobbler, flees the marital home and passes himself off as a wealthy merchant to the Sultan of Khaitan, who offers him the hand of his daughter, the beautiful Saamcheddine. However, Mârouf’s secret is soon discovered and he again runs away, this time with Saamcheddine, who has fallen in love with her future husband. On their way, the two lovers find a magic ring which allows Mârouf to call on the services of a magician. The latter comes to his aid, causing a caravan to appear, and the cobbler, pursued by the sultan’s henchmen, is saved in the nick of time. The ruler gives Mârouf his daughter’s hand in marriage, and the work merrily draws to its close with a final chorus reminiscent of “Tutto nel mondo è burla” from Falstaff. In this work, Rabaud combines a feeling for form and typically Wagnerian drama with a light-hearted mood and the seductive colours of a bogus Orient, furnished with all the clichés of the time. Nothing is really serious in this opera whose sole aim was to entertain, a far remove from Viennese angst or the prevailing realism. Nevertheless, Rabaud shows great mastery of proportions, harmony—sometimes Debussyian in its refinement—and orchestration. The love duet between Saamcheddine and Mârouf in Act III affords some wonderful flights of lyricism. Delighted by the mellifluous nature of this music—a quality which Rabaud probably owed to his master Massenet—the audience enthusiastically received this opera, which was the composer’s greatest success in this genre. Following its Parisian premiere, the work was performed all over the world. After being neglected for decades, the opera has recently been rediscovered.