Une folie

Méhul’s decisive change of direction towards a lighter genre of music, which had started with L’Irato, was confirmed in 1802 by the opéra comique, Une folie, premiered on 15 Germinal Year X at the Théâtre Feydeau. The libretto by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly tells the story of the painter Cerberti who wants to keep his pupil Armantine in his care. Her suitor, Florival, with the help of his valet Carlin and some cleverly-planned trickery, manages to gain admittance to his mistress and force the tutor to agree to their marriage. The critics of the period unanimously condemned the poem for being too lightweight and occasionally even criticised the score, as could be seen in Le Coup de fouet: “a somewhat dreary folly; nothing new, not even the music”. In his Histoire de l’opéra-comique, Castil-Blaze was also highly critical of this “drama with its hackneyed comedy”.Nevertheless, he spared the finale of the first act “full of energy, wit and dramatic intelligence” and the trio from the second act.Despite the critics, the work, performed by the company from the recently combined Favart and Feydeau theatres (including Solié, Elleviou, Martin and Mademoiselle Phillis), was a remarkable success: it remained in the repertoire throughout its composer’s lifetime, racking up a total of 212 performances by the time of his death. Une folie was even revived again at the Opéra-Comique in 1843, starring Chollet, Audran, Ricquier, Henri and Mademoiselle Révilly.