Surcouf (opéra comique)

Surcouf is a French opéra comique in three acts and a prologue, music by Robert Planquette, libretto by Henri Chivot and Alfred Duru, premiered on 6 October 1887 at the Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques in Paris.

An English version was given in London at the Prince of Wales Theatre in January 1889, under the title Paul Jones, in an adaptation by H. B. Farnie.

This version did better at the box-office than the original Paris production, running in the West End for most of 1889, and being staged subsequently around the British Isles and in Australia and the US.

Planquette had come to national and international notice ten years earlier, with his opéra comique Les cloches de Corneville (1877), which broke box-office records in Paris and London.

Chivot and Duru were an experienced team of librettists who had written the words for successes by Charles Lecocq and Edmond Audran.

The British government has put a price on Surcouf's head, and he is carried on board Thompson's ship, which sets sail for England.

Two of Surcouf's crew, Gargousse and Flageolet, having witnessed the kidnapping alert their shipmates and the pirate corvette sets off in hot pursuit of the British ship.

Before he can be led to prison his men arrive, overcome the incompetent and cowardly English, and march off in triumph with their chief to their ship.

A Parisian critic observed after the premiere at the Folies-Dramatiques that the "patriotic bunkum" of the plot of the opera was calculated to appeal to French audiences but was unlikely to go down well in London.

The critic speculated that the exaggerated anti-English sentiments might be the authors' revenge for the supposed slight to French naval courage in the "Poor parley-voo" song in Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore premiered in London earlier that year.

[5][6] He also reverted to an old tradition that Gilbert and Sullivan had striven to get away from: cross-dress casting – the hero in this version was sung by the American contralto Agnes Huntington.

He loves his employer's niece, Yvonne, but she is already being wooed by Don Rufino, a rich and well-connected Spanish naval officer.

bright theatrical poster showing young man in old French sailor outfit
Poster for first production, 1887
three men in early 19th-century costume, one plump and jolly, one young and dashing and one pouring humself a glass of wine
Gobin, Morlet and Guiton fils in original 1887 production
coloured line drawing of early 19th century crowd by waterside welcoming a jubilant young man carrying a large money-bag
Surcouf returns to Saint-Malo with his new riches
young man and bearded older man in early 19th century French sailor's clothes
Costumes for Surcouf and Gargousse
Man in British army officer's uniform of early 19th century alongside woman in smart costume of the same period
Costumes for Thompson and Arabelle
older man and younger woman in smart early 19th century French costumes
Costumes for Kerbiniou and Yvonne
line drawing of tall young woman in mail costume of the early 19th century
Agnes Huntington in the title role in Paul Jones , the English adaptation of Surcouf , 1889