Madame Favart

After defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870) ended Napoleon III's reign, Offenbach's popularity declined in Paris, and he toured Britain and the United States.

Madame Favart was first staged at the Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques in Paris on 28 December 1878, starring Juliette Simon-Girard in the title role and Simon-Max as Hector de Boispréau; it played for 208 performances.

[2] It was mounted in a version by Julius Hopp at the Theater an der Wien with Marie Geistinger on 7 February 1879, and later the same year in Leipzig and Berlin.

[3] An English version, adapted by H. B. Farnie, opened at the Strand Theatre in London on 12 April 1879 starring Florence St. John in the title role, Claude Marius (1850–1896) as Favart, and Walter H. Fisher, then Henry Bracy as Hector.

The production famously ran for 502 performances, remarkably successful for the time, although it marked the last high point of the conquest of London by the French composer, whose place, already challenged by Lecocq and Planquette in the British capital, was soon taken by Gilbert and Sullivan.

[4] It is a fantasy plot built around the real-life celebrated French actress Marie Justine Benoîte Duronceray (1727–1775), her playwright-manager husband Charles-Simon Favart (1710–1792) and the actress-admiring general Maurice de Saxe (1696–1750), who also appears in the verismo opera Adriana Lecouvreur.

Just as Pontsablé is about to wreak vengeance on Suzanne and Hector, Madame Favart pulls a note from a bouquet given by the King announcing the resignation of the Governor.