Offenbach - Keck

Fantasio (OEK critical edition - in preparation) (1872)

Duration: 130 minutes
Opéra-comique in three acts

Libretto by Paul de Musset and Charles Nuitter, based on the comedy by Alfred de Musset; new German version; new English version by Richard Duployen (F,G,E)

Scoring
colS,M(S),4T,Bar,BBar,2B; chorus; 2(II=picc).2.2.2-4.2.3.0-timp.perc-strings .
Abbreviations (PDF).

Territory
This work is available from Boosey & Hawkes for the world.

World premiere incomplete
10/15/2000
Théâtre, Rennes
Vincent Vittoz, director
Conductor: Claude Schnitzler
Company: Choeur de L'Opéra de Rennes / Orchestre de Bretagene



World Premiere
1/18/1872
Opéra-Comique, Paris
Company: unknown



World premiere of version
12/1/2014
Staatstheater, Karlsruhe
nn, director
Conductor: nn
Company: Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe

Roles

THE KING OF BAVARIA	Lyric Bass
THE PRINCESS	Coloratura Soprano
FANTASIO, a student	Lyric Tenor
THE PRINCE OF MANTUA	Lyric Baritone
MARIONI, his adjutant	Buffo Tenor
FLAMEL, the princess's nurse	Mezzo Soprano
Students: SPARCK	Bass Baritone
FACIO	Tenor
MAX	Tenor
HARTMANN	Bass
Ladies and gentlemen of the court, citizens, students

Time and Place
A fairy-tale Munich as in Romantic operas

Synopsis
The action takes place between Munich's royal residence and the university with its liberal-minded students. The young and beautiful princess, courted by many a student, is supposed to marry a prince she does not know. The happy townspeople celebrate the eve of the union with singing and a torchlight procession, but the students do not share in the carefree jubilation. Fantasio, in particular, feels pity for the princess who is supposed to give her first love to an absolute stranger. He is happy to seize the occasion to dress as a jester in order to be near her and to help her, his happiness partly deriving from the fact that he is in immediate danger of getting caught and arrested by the police because of his debts. Due to an accident, the old jester has just died and is borne to his grave with ironic pathos. Fantasio climbs the park wall in a jester's costume and disappears into darkness, towards adventure and the princess… Ludwig Berger

Repertoire Note

For Offenbach, romantic opera was the big dream in his life: away from lyrical drama, the Singspiel, which seemed much too light for him, away from operetta, which he mastered as a champion of light entertainment, to the purer realm of absolute music. In the music of Fantasio, considered one of his most beautiful and refined works by those who know Offenbach, there is a shade of that longing. Fantasio, which remains close to a drama by Alfred de Musset, marks Offenbach’s crucial step on his way towards Tales of Hoffmann.
Ludwig Berger

Moods
Comic, Poetic, Romantic

Subjects
Relationships, Politics, Society