Le pauvre matelot is a three act opera (described as a 'complainte

Lament

A lament or lamentation is a song, poem, or piece of music expressing grief, regret, or mourning.-History:Many of the oldest and most lasting poems in human history have been laments. Laments are present in both the Iliad and the Odyssey, and laments continued to be sung in elegiacs accompanied by...

') composed by Darius Milhaud

Darius Milhaud

Darius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality...

 with libretto by Jean Cocteau

Jean Cocteau

Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...

. Its first performance was at the Opéra-Comique

Opéra-Comique

The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...

 on December 16, 1927. Le pauvre matelot is short, lasting about 35 minutes when performed, and is dedicated to Henri Sauguet

Henri Sauguet

Henri Sauguet , was a French composer. Born in Bordeaux as Henri-Pierre Poupard, he adopted his mother's maiden name as his pseudonym. His output includes operas, ballets, four symphonies , concertos, chamber and choral music and numerous songs, as well as film music...

. The composer conducted a complete recording with forces of the Paris Opera in 1956.

The United States premiere of the opera, produced by the Curtis Institute of Music

Curtis Institute of Music

The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...

, took place on 1 April 1937 at the Philadelphia Academy of Music

Academy of Music (Philadelphia)

The Academy of Music, also known as American Academy of Music, is a concert hall and opera house located at Broad and Locust Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1857 and is the oldest opera house in the United States that is still used for its original purpose...

 in a production directed by Austrian composer, librettist, and stage director Ernst Lert

Ernst Lert

Ernst Joseph Maria Lert, originally Ernst Joseph Maria Levy was an Austrian stage director, writer, composer, librettist, and music historian. He was the brother of conductor Richard Lert who was married to writer Vicki Baum.Lert studied music history, piano, and singing at the University of Vienna...

 and using set and costume designs by Tony Award

Tony Award

The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

 winning designer Donald Oenslager

Donald Oenslager

Donald Oenslager was a celebrated American scenic designer who won the Tony Award for Best Scenic Design.-Biography:Oenslager was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and became interested in design while studying in Europe...

. The opera was presented in a double bill with the world premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti

Gian Carlo Menotti

Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...

's Amelia Goes to the Ball

Amelia Goes to the Ball

Amelia Goes to the Ball is an opera buffa in one act composed by Gian Carlo Menotti. Menotti also wrote the original Italian libretto. Composed when he was twenty-three, it was Menotti's first mature opera and his first critical success...

. Both operas were conducted by Fritz Reiner

Fritz Reiner

Frederick Martin “Fritz” Reiner was a prominent conductor of opera and symphonic music in the twentieth century.-Biography:...

 with Sylvan Levin

Sylvan Levin

Sylvan Levin was an American concert pianist and conductor. He notably served as the assistant conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York City Symphony under Leopold Stokowski for many years...

 serving as chorus master and a young Boris Goldovsky

Boris Goldovsky

Boris Goldovsky was a Russian conductor and broadcast commentator, active in the United States. He has been called an important "popularizer" of opera in America...

 working as Assistant Conductor. The Milhaud/Menotti double bill played later that month in Baltimore at the city's Lyric Theatre

Lyric Opera House

The Lyric Opera House is a music venue in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The building was modeled after the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, and it was inaugurated on October 31, 1894, with a performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Australian opera singer Nellie Melba as the featured...

 and at the New Amsterdam Theatre

New Amsterdam Theatre

The New Amsterdam Theatre is a Broadway theater located at 214 West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues in the Theatre District of Manhattan, New York City, off of Times Square...

 in New York City.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 16 December 1927 (Conductor: Georges Lauweryns)
The wife	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Madeleine Sibille Madeleine Sibille Madeleine Sibille was a French operatic soprano.Sibille was born in Paris. She spent much of her career performing at the Opéra-Comique, making her debut there as Mercédès in Carmen on 11 January 1920...
The sailor	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Legrand
His father-in-law	bass	Félix Vieuille Félix Vieuille Félix Vieuille was a French operatic bass who sang for more than four decades with the Opéra-Comique in Paris during the first half of the twentieth century...
His friend	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...	Louis Musy Louis Musy Louis Musy was a French operatic baritone and stage director principally active at the Paris Opéra-Comique...

Act 1

The wife keeps a bar where most of the action takes place, and the opera opens with her dancing with the friend, who owns a wineshop across the street. The sailor has been gone for 15 years, with the Wife waiting faithfully for him to return. The friend encourages her chastity, and he admires her ability to do so despite living at a port. The wife responds that she would possibly have cheated were her husband present, but since he is gone, she feels it would not be the right thing to do. She also notes that no man has truly inspired her to be unchaste. Her father would rather that she take a new man who can run her bar, while the friend has repeatedly had his advances rejected by the wife. She reasons that she must not marry the friend, for it would make an awkward situation were the sailor to return and find his wife married to his friend. The father-in-law disagrees with his daughter's views, as she would take the sailor back whether he returns poor or rich.

The friend returns to his shop, and after he leaves, the father-in-law states he thinks the friend and the wife would make a good couple. The wife continues to disagree, claiming she still believes her husband will return, and that she will remain faithful until this happens. The two begin to bicker, with the father-in-law reminding her she is now 40 years old as they begin to leave the stage. It is at this point that the sailor can be observed outside the bar on the street, where he almost enters, but decides not to open the door. He is not sure his wife will recognize him, as no one else has. He instead decides to visit his friend to see what reaction his appearance has.

Upon knocking at the friend's door, the sailor is first turned away as a drunkard, but his mentioning of having a wife across the street makes his identity known. The sailor is glad he avoided the bar, as his 15 years of travel have changed him greatly. When he asks about his wife, the friend assures him of her faithfulness and that she has been waiting for him. The sailor then tells his friend that he now had the money to take care of their needs. The friend believes that the sailor should go right away to his wife, but the sailor instead wants to stay the night and meet his wife as stranger, a feeling brought on by his time away.

Act 2

The following day, the sailor heads over to the bar and poses as a messenger from her husband. He tells his wife that the sailor has returned, but will not come until nighttime, as he is being chased by creditors. His wife says that she too is without money. The sailor does not believe a woman as pretty as his wife could be without money, and the father-in-law makes a sound in agreement. The wife, however, is overjoyed that her husband will soon be returning to her. She is also told that had the sailor agreed to love a cannibal queen, he may have returned to her rich, but she does not care. The sailor acts as a shipmate of himself, and shows pearls as the reward he instead received for becoming that lover. The sailor then asks for a room for the night, and is granted his request as he has brought such good news and asks for so little. The friend is interested to know what happened, and makes an excuse to visit by returning a hammer lent to him by the wife the other day. The wife remains silent on the visitor, but as she closes the bar for the night, does see a similarity in the appearance of the sailor to her husband.

Act 3

As the sailor lies asleep, his wife comes in with the newly returned hammer. She raises the hammer at the sailor, but decides against this action. She then coughs, and he does not react. The Wife again raises the hammer, and this time hits the Sailor on the head with it. She strikes him again when he convulses, then releases the hammer so she can remove the goods from his pocket. The father-in-law is woken up by the commotion, and he decides they will carry the body to the rain-water tank. They plan on telling the neighbor that the visitor left very early, and when the neighbor then knocks at the door, they keep silent and the neighbor leaves. As they make ready to bring the body to the tank, the wife happily sings of the nearing return of her husband.

Source

• Kobbé, Gustav. The Definitive Kobbé's Book of Opera. Ed. The Earl of Harewood. 1st American ed. New York: G.P. Putnam's and Sons, 1987. 1040-1041.