Le pré aux clercs

[1] Le pré aux clercs was premiered in Paris by the Opéra-Comique company at the Salle de la Bourse on 15 December 1832.

According to Hérold's biographer Arthur Pougin, this incident exacerbated the composer's ill-health, leading to his death five weeks after the premiere.

[3] Though rarely performed in recent years, a studio production conducted by José Serebrier was broadcast by BBC Radio 3 in 1987, with Carole Farley and John Aler among the cast.

The King of Navarre sends as envoy the Baron de Mergy, a young Béarnaise gentleman, to recall his Queen and her lady-in-waiting Isabelle.

Mergy, slighted by an offer from Comminge to assist him in meeting the Queen, challenges the colonel to a duel at dawn at the Pré-aux-Clercs.

During the duel Comminge learns that it is Isabelle whom Mergy loves, not Marguerite, and the discovery that they are in fact wed makes the colonel even more furious.

[10] A historic (1959) French studio recording was released on CD in 2017, with Denise Boursin (Isabella), Joseph Peyron (de Mergy), Berthe Monmart (Marguerite), Lucien Lovano (Girot), Claudine Collart (Nicette) and Gaston Rey (Contarelli) in the main roles, with the Chorus and Orchestra of RTF Paris, conducted by Robert Benedetti.