Pantagruel

Pantagruel was billed originally as an opera in two acts at the Imperial Theatre of the Opera in Paris, but it might have been presented more exactly as an opéra bouffe by reason of the lively and raucous farce it developed. Théodore Labarre composed its score, and Henry Trianon created its libretto. It had its world premiere on 24 December 1855, but its style was unsuited to the Opéra, and it had to be dropped from the repertory after its first presentation. The emperor and the empress…