Un mari à la porte
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Un mari à la porte[1] (A Husband at the Door) is an opérette in one act of 1859 with music by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was by Alfred Delacour (Alfred Charlemagne Lartigue) and Léon Morand.
Un mari à la porte was premiered by the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens at the Salle Lacaze in Paris.[2] The premiere occurred shortly after the first operatic work with words by Eugène Labiche, and Yon discerns a similarity in the vaudevillian plot of Un mari à la porte with popular works by Labiche. The work remained in the repertory of the Bouffes Parisiens for some time.[3]
Popular not only in Paris, but also in Vienna and Budapest, it was widely staged until the end of the 19th century. The UK premiere was not until February 1950 at the Fortune Theatre.[4]
The score includes a comic lamentation for Florestan, a set piece quartet - with the baritone off-stage, and the most notable number, a Valse Tyrolienne[4] (recorded in 1994 by Sumi Jo).
It is still occasionally performed in France, and was staged in Liverpool in 2008, conducted by Vasily Petrenko.[5]