L'Adorable Bel-Boul

Description

- Massenet’s “l'Adorable Bel-Boul” is thirty-two years old. If he is still young, he is no longer a beginner. He already has to his credit about a dozen lyrical works preceding “l'Adorable Bel-Boul”. Even if all styles are represented (opera, opéra comique, operetta), one notices that Massenet is in a rather “light” period as regards style and choice of librettos. l'Adorable Bel-Boul has a particular form. It can be considered a salon operetta, Massenet not seeking to orchestrate his work. It was intended to be performed at the “Cercle de l'union artistique”. If the premiere took place in Madame Dreyfus’s Paris salon in March 1874, the work was performed at the Cercle on April 18 of the same year. We can consider l'Adorable Bel-Boul as Massenet’s third stage work performed in public after La Grand'Tante, created on April 4, 1867, and Don César de Bazan on November 30, 1872, both at the Opéra comique. Some consider that Massenet will little by little renounce his comic vein in order to steer his career toward the heights of lyrical and dramatic glory. But if one looks at the first page of the manuscript of l'Adorable Bel-Boul, one sees written in the master’s own hand: “Score revised… with astonishment and … admiration … in March 1887!” There is therefore proof that Massenet considered this work worthy of being performed!