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35. THE KING HAS SAID IT
Opera Comique in Three Acts By Léon Délibes
Libretto By Edmond Gondinet
First Produced Paris, 1873
Chief Characters Javotte, Agathe, Chimène, Marquise de Montcontour, Benoit, Miton, Marquis de
Montcontour, Marquis de Flarembel, Marquis de la Bluette
THE scene is laid in a château not far from Versailles. The old Marquis de Montcontour is very
excited because he is at last to have an audience with Louis XIV., having obtained the coveted
honour by being fortunate enough to capture an escaped parrot be-longing to Madame de
Maintenon. After practising elaborate court bows for some time, he 'departs; and then there is a
pretty love scene between the young lady's waiting-maid, Javotte, and her sweetheart, Benoit, a
young peasant, who is eager to enter the Marquis's service, which the merry soubrette promises to
arrange with Miton, an old dancing-master, who presently arrives to give a lesson to the four
lovely daughters of the house. The lesson proceeds; but in the midst of it the lovers of the two
elder girls, Agathe and Chimène, enter through the window. These are the young Marquis de
Flarembel and the Marquis de la Bluette; and as they commence a declaration of Jove to the girls,
their mother, the Marquise, enters with two elderly suitors whom she has selected for them, the
one a Baron the other a rich financier. The clandestine lovers hide themselves for a short time
behind the wide-hooped skirts of the young ladies; but they are discovered at last, and then the
angry Marquise packs off the four girls at once to a neighbouring convent, to be out of harm's
way. The old Marquis now returns from his royal interview, being in a great flutter because the
King has commanded him to present his son at court on a certain day; and not daring to inform His
Majesty that he has made a mistake, since he has no son, but only four daughters, the old lord is
greatly distressed, declaring that he must present a son at the next audience, since "the King has
said it! " The dancing-master suggests a way out of the difficulty by offering the peasant
sweetheart of Javotte as a substitute for the imaginary heir; and he promises to transform the
young Benoit into a gay cavalier within ten days. The old Marquis is delighted at this way out of
the difficulty; and the pleased Benoit proves such an apt pupil, that he soon has the grace and
bearing of a haughty young aristocrat, and even disdains his humble sweetheart, and lords it over
his pretended parents. In Act 2 the bogus heir is shown in the midst of the extravagant pleasures he
has taken to so readily; and a grand masked ball is in progress in his so-called father's grounds, to
which he has invited everybody whose name is on the Court Almanac, many of whom have been
deceased some time. Their relations are naturally hurt at such indiscriminate invitations being sent
out; and the old Marquis has to smooth matters over. He has to endure other shocks, however,
from the frolicsome Benoit, who plays many merry tricks on the amazed guests, committing
constant outrages on the prim etiquette of the day. Finally the youth, hearing from the lovers of
Agathe and Chimène that he has four charming "sisters " in the neighbouring convent, departs
with De Flarembel and De la Bluette, and sets the girls free; and as the reunited sweethearts greet
one another with great joy, the two elderly suitors withdraw in anger, vowing to be revenged on
the boorish and indiscreet " brother." In the last act, Benoit appears, looking somewhat the worse
for wear, having had a good frolic in the city, and fought with both the irate old suitors, in each
case allowing his opponent to think him dead, though in reality he was unhurt; and presently the
worried old Marquis is amazed to receive letters of condolence from the suitors, and also from the