La cigale et la fourmi (The Grasshopper and the Ant) is a three-act opéra comique, with music by Edmond Audran and words by Henri Chivot and Alfred Duru. Loosely based on Jean de La Fontaine's version of Aesop's fable The Ant and the Grasshopper, the opera shows the lives of two young women, one prudent, like the ant, the other improvident and reckless, like the grasshopper. Unlike the Aesop fable this version has a happy ending, with the "ant" looking after the destitute "grasshopper".
The work was first performed at the Théâtre de la Gaîté, Paris on 3 October 1886, running for 141 performances. It was later adapted into English for a long-running production in London and productions in New York, Australia and New Zealand.
Background and first performance After considerable success at the box-office with the opéra comique La mascotte (1880), Audran and his usual librettists, Henri Chivot and Alfred Duru, had written five shows in a row that failed to rival it. Of these, Gillette de Narbonne (1882) and Le grand mogol (1884) both ran for more than 100 performances – regarded as the criterion of reasonable success in Parisian theatres at the time – but a succès fou had proved elusive.Noël and Stoullig 1883, p. 411, and 1884, p. 270 Audran tried working with other collaborators – Maurice Ordonneau (Serment d'amour, 1886) and H. B. Farnie (Indiana, 1886) – without conspicuous success, and returned to Chivot and Duru when commissioned to provide a piece for the Théâtre de la Gaîté in Paris."Edmond Audran", Opérette – Théâtre Musical, Académie Nationale de l'Opérette (in French). Retrieved 9 December 2018 The title characters, the grasshopper and the ant, allude to Jean de La Fontaine's retelling of Aesop's fable The Ant and the Grasshopper, in which the improvident grasshopper sings away the summer, and starves in the winter, unlike the provident ant, who has gathered and stored food in readiness for the season."The Drama in Paris", The Era, 6 November 1886, p. 9La Fontaine, p. 59
The biggest draw at the Gaîté was its leading lady, Jeanne Granier, for whom Audran and his partners wrote the role of Thérèse, the extravagant, feckless heroine. The mezzo-soprano lead, Charlotte, the thoughtful "ant", was sung by , for whom the collaborators had written before, in Le grand mogol (1884) and Pervenche (1885)."Le grand mogol", Le Ménestrel: journal de musique, 21 September 1884, p. 340; and Noël and Stoullig, 1886, p. 450 La cigale et la fourmi opened on 3 October 1886 and ran for 141 performances, taking just over half a million francs at the box-office, putting it roughly on a par with Le grand mogol but not approaching the success of La mascotte.Noël and Stoullig, 1887, p. 311, and 1888, p. 296; and "The Drama in Paris", The Era, 29 August 1891, p. 9
Original cast
Thérèse – Jeanne Granier Charlotte – Louise Thuillier-Leloir La duchesse de Fayensberg – Mdlle. Fassi La Frivolini – Mddle. Paula La mère Catherine – Mddle. Baudu Le chevalier Frantz de Bernheim – Georges Mauguière Vincent – M. Alexandre Le duc de Fayensberg – M. Raiter Guillaume – M. Petit Mathias – M. Scipion An old beggar – M. Gobereau Source: Vocal score.Audran et al, unnumbered introductory page
Synopsis The opera is set in the 18th century in a small Flemish village near the city of Bruges, and later in the city.
Act I The village, and later, Bruges
The villagers are celebrating the wedding of Guillaume and Charlotte. The latter – like the ant of the fable – is prudent and moderate. Her beloved cousin and foster sister, Thérèse, is like the grasshopper: impulsive, generous and improvident. The girls' uncle, Mathias, has come from Bruges to attend the wedding. He is the maître d'hôtel of the Faisan d'Or, Bruges's grandest hotel. Thérèse is thrilled by Mathias's description of Bruges and its metropolitan delights. Her admirer, Vincent, son of the village schoolmaster, is sad at the prospect that Thérèse will inevitably be drawn away from the village in search of adventure in the city. The benevolent Mathias encourages Vincent to declare his love to Thérèse, which he does, but she says she is not ready to settle down to marriage yet. She conceals herself in Mathias's carriage and gets to Bruges. She persuades her uncle to set her up as a florist in the lobby of the hotel, and spends her first earnings on going to the opera, which fascinates her and excites an ambition to become an opera singer.
Two weeks after Thérèse's arrival in Bruges there is a grand masked ball at the Faisan d'Or, an event much favoured by the local nobility for its scope for amorous intrigue. The Chevalier Frantz de Bernheim comes to rendezvous with the Duchesse de Fayensberg, whose husband is otherwise engaged in a liaison with the dancer La Frivolini. The duke intrudes into Frantz's tête-à-tête with the duchess, who quickly hides behind a screen. The duke is amused to find his friend in an intrigue and does not realise with whom. After the duke leaves, the duchess, shaken at her narrow escape, insists that Frantz should conspicuously flirt with another woman, to put the duke off the scent. Thérèse gains entry to the ball to sell flowers. The duke concludes that she is the object of Frantz's interest, and Frantz plays up to this misapprehension. Thérèse sings for the assembled company, and the duke vows that he will get her into the opera company: the guests drink a champagne toast to the duke's new protégée.
Act II Bruges
Guillaume and Charlotte have come for their first visit to the city. They are surprised to bump into Vincent who is supposed to be on an educational tour of the country but has followed Thérèse to Bruges. He tells them that they will find her much changed. With the duke's influence she has become a star of the opera, and lives a lavish lifestyle. Both Frantz and the duke are distinctly interested in her, much to the duchess's displeasure.
Charlotte, Guillaume and Vincent overhear the duchess in conversation with Frantz, and are horrified to discover that Thérèse is being used to furnish a smoke-screen for an aristocratic affair. Thérèse is reluctant to believe them, but the manoeuvrings of the duchess and Frantz make it clear that the story is true. At the duke's ball that evening she takes her revenge by singing a song about a rose who wanted to hide its love affair with a butterfly and so bade him make love to a little grasshopper. She then shocks the guests by declaring that Frantz is the butterfly and she is the grasshopper; she does not name the rose but leaves people to guess that it is the duchess. She flees the ballroom and leaves Bruges.
Act III Three months later, in the village
Charlotte and Guillaume continue to live their busy, contented rural life. Mathias has come to join them, driven from Bruges by embarrassment about the events at the duke's ball. Vincent has spent much of the three months since the incident searching for Thérèse, but she has vanished from Bruges. So too have Frantz and the duke. The duke has been banished by his Prince, shocked at the scandal in the ducal family, and Frantz, like Vincent, has been searching for Thérèse, having realised that his pretended love for her has become a compelling reality.
When there is nobody about, Thérèse enters. She is weary and down-at-heel, having been walking the country scraping a living as a street singer. She is too nervous to knock at the door of her cousin, and falls asleep outdoors, wrapping her tattered coat around her. She dreams that she has called on Charlotte for aid and been cruelly rejected and, in her sleep, she cries out in despair. The cry wakes the family who hurry outside to find her lying unconscious. When Thérèse wakes she finds herself in bed in the room that she occupied as a young girl, and the horror of the dream is soothed away by the care of her loving family. It is Christmas, and Thérèse is able to enjoy a simple family Christmas again.
Frantz and the duke turn up, and the talk turns to matters of the heart. Vincent suggests that it is time for Thérèse to marry and settle down. But he is not putting himself forward as a suitor: he recognises the devotion displayed by Frantz, whose proposal of marriage Thérèse accepts. The duke receives a letter from the duchess telling him that she has persuaded the Prince to lift his banishment, and all ends happily. Source: The Era and Gänzl's Book of the Musical Theatre.Gänzl and Lamb, pp. 409–413
Numbers Act I Overture Chorus – "Ils ont dit oui" – They said yes Song (Charlotte) – "Au temps passé les animaux parlaient" – In times past the animals spoke Song (Thérèse) – "Ah! vive la chanson d'été" – Hurrah for the song of summer Duet (Thérèse, Vincent) – "Allons, parlez, je vous écoute" – Speak – I am listening Ensemble (Charlotte, Thérèse, Vincent, Guillaume, Mathias – "Au revoir" – Goodbye Air (Thérèse) – "Mon oncle, la chose est certaine" – Uncle, the thing is certain Frantz – "Le Duc d'humeur fort inconstante" – The Duke is of a very inconstant mood Chorus – "Le grelot de la folie" – The bell of madness Thérèse – "Un jour Margot" – One day Margot Finale (Thérèse, Frantz, Vincent, Guillaume, Mathias) – "O vin charmant qui pétille!" – O charming sparkling wine!
Act II Chorus – "C'est le jour de kermesse" – It's the day of the fair Duet (Charlotte, Guillaume) – "Le père Antoine un matin" – Father Antoine one morning Rondo (Vincent) – "Je souffle" – I breathe Chorus – "Les mirlitons, les crécelles" – Reed pipes and rattles Gavotte (Thérèse) – "Ma mère j'entends le violon" – Mother, I hear a violin Villanelle (Charlotte) – "J'aime mieux notre humble foyer" – I prefer our humble home Duet (Charlotte, Thérèse) – "Petit Noël avec mystère" – Father Christmas with mystery Quartet (Charlotte, Thérèse, Vincent, Guillaume) – "Tu n'as pas, j'en ai l'assurance" – You do not have, I'm sure Couplets (Thérèse, Frantz) – "On m'a dit que vous me trompez" – I was told that you deceived me Chorus – "En cette demeure spendide" – In this splendid house Finale (Thérèse) – "C'est l'histoire d'une cigale" – This is the story of a grasshopper
Act III Chorus – "Que dans cette ferme" – What in this farm Couplets (Charlotte) – "Le soir lorsque chacun a rempli sa journée" – In the evening when everyone has filled their day Romance (Frantz) – "Oui, la raison guidant son coeur" – Yes, the reason guiding his heart Dream (Thérèse, Charlotte) – "Frapper à cette porte … Je suis sans pain et sans asile" – Knock on this door ... I am without bread or a place to go Chorus of children – "Le cloches en carillon" – The carillon bells Duet (Thérèse, Charlotte) – "Petit Noël avec mystère" – Father Christmas with mystery Finale (Thérèse) – "O jour béni" – O blessed day Source: Vocal score.
Revivals and adaptations