Opera Plots I - MDC Faculty Home Pages

108. MUGUETTE
Opera Comique in Four Acts By Edmond Missa
Libretto By Carré and Hartmann
Founded on "Ouidas" "Two Little Wooden Shoes"
Chief Characters Muguette, Melka, Lana, Lionel, Klotz, Jean
THE scene is laid in Antwerp and Paris, about 1820. The first act opens in the market at Antwerp,
where Muguette, a pretty flower-girl, is seen selling her lovely wares. She is an orphan who lives
in a tiny cottage left her by a kindly, pleasant foster-father, who had found her in infancy in a bed
of lilies-of-the-valley, from which fact she had derived her name. She is desired as a wife by Jean,
a fellow-worker in the market; but Muguette declines his offer, having no love for him. Presently
two strangers appear, Klotz, a travelling art-dealer, and Lionel, an artist. The latter seeks a model
for his new picture, end on beholding Muguette he sees that she has the exact frail, ethereal beauty
he desires, and he at once secures her promise to sit for him. The pair fall in love with each other,
and Lionel gives Muguette books to read, so that she improves rapidly under his tuition. After a
while, however, Lionel has to return to Paris, and as he bids her a tender farewell Muguette has a
foreboding he will not return.
In Act 2 Muguette is seen, ill and unhappy, grieving for the loss of Lionel, whom she has never
heard of since he left her; and she has to suffer the gibes of her companions for her loverless state -
especially those of the jealous Jean, who is rendered furious because she still refuses his advances,
from which he is protected by her one girlfriend, Lina. One day Klotz, the art-dealer, appears in
the neighbourhood once more; and learning from him that her beloved Lionel is in Paris she
resolves to seek him, and sets off one night in a blinding snowstorm, sinking exhausted by the
way. She is, however, found by the kindly Klotz, who brings her safely to Paris.
In Act 3 they arrive at the studio of Lionel, who now has another model, Melka, a showy but goodnatured
girl, who knows well enough that the artist has thought for none other than his lost flowergirl.
When Muguette presently appears on the scene, therefore, she lets the pretty flower-girl
realise that Lionel still loves her; and then she arranges for her to poise on the dias in her stead
whilst she takes Klotz away. Then, when the absorbed Lionel looks up from his work and beholds
his beloved Muguette standing before him, he is filled with amazement and joy, and the opera
closes with the happy embrace of the reunited lovers.
109. COSI FAN TUTTE "THE SCHOOL FOR
LOVERS"
Opera Comique in Two Acts By Johann Chrysostomus Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Libretto By Da Ponte (Afterwards revised by L. Scbnider and E. Devruent)
First Produced Vienna, January, 1790
Chief Characters Fiordiligi, Dorabella, Despina, Don Ferrando, Don Guglielmo, Don Alfonso