Le flibustier (opera)

Although the title can translate as The Pirate or The Buccaneer, this is no swashbuckling action-drama, but an idyllic domestic comedy of mistaken identity.

The opera is based on the like-named play by Jean Richepin, who wrote the libretto, and is dedicated to La Comtesse de Mercy-Argenteau.

It was revived in 1908 in a production by students at the Moscow Conservatory under the conductorship of Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, and a Russian edition of the piano-vocal score was printed under the title У моря (U morja = By the Sea).

Nevertheless, despite the composer's own special fondness for this work, Le Flibustier seems never to have been performed again and never became part of the standard operatic repertoire.

In the year of its premiere, the composer contributed a rare biographical article entitled "Flibustier in Paris" about his experiences with this opera published in the Russian periodical Knizhki nedeli.

One day, while only Marie-Anne is in the house, the stranger Jacquemin, who was Pierre's comrade years ago but does not know what has happened to him, stops by to inquire about him, bringing along some of his things.

Pierre recounts his adventures with Spanish and English ships, resulting in wealth that allowed him to leave the seafaring life to be a land-dweller.

But when it is clear that the latter has Janik's love, Pierre at first is furious, but eventually realizes that a physical contest can make no difference, and so he relents.

Legoëz enters, and, after learning what has transpired, consents to his granddaughter's marriage to Jacquemin and leads all in an homage to the sea.