2

Le Docteur Miracle

opéra-comique en un acte

1 Trio (Laurette, Véronique, Le Podestat) 'La drôle de musique' - 463 bars

1bis [Fanfare] - 12 bars

2 Romance (Laurette) 'Ne me grondez pas pour cela' - 35 bars

3 Couplets (Pasquin) 'Je sais monter les escaliers' - 121 bars

4 Quatuor (Laurette, Véronique, Pasquin, Le Podestat) 'Voici l'omelette !' - 262 bars

5 Duo et Trio (Laurette, Pasquin, Le Podestat) 'En votre aimable compagnie' - 274 bars

5bis Entrée du docteur Miracle - 25 bars

6 Quatuor final (Laurette, Véronique, Miracle, Le Podestat) 'Mon enfant, si tu m'aimes bien'- 153 bars

Le Podestat - basse
Véronique, sa femme – soprano
Laurette, sa fille – soprano
Le Capitaine Silvio (‘Pasquin’, ‘Dr Miracle’) - ténor

2 flûtes (1 petite flûte), hautbois, 2 clarinettes, basson, 2 cors, 2 cornets à pistons, trombone, timbales, triangle, cordes

Coulisses (from the main orchestra): clarinette, trombone, grosse caisse et cymbales

Libretto: by Léon Battu (1827–57) et Ludovic Halévy (1834–1908), after St Patrick’s Day, or the Scheming Lieutenant by Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1775), published in French in 1841. Battu also wrote the libretto of Offenbach’s Le Mage au lanternes.

Composition: September – December 1856. In a long article in Le Figaro on 17-7-1856 (reported in the Revue et gazette musicale on 20-7-1856 and Le Ménestrel on 27-7-1856) Offenbach announced a competition for an opéra-bouffe. The preliminary round required the submission by 25-8-1856 of a mélodie for chorus and piano, a mélodie with orchestral accompaniment, and a piece for orchestra in full score. The second round required the orchestration of a song to be given to the candidates.

Seventy-eight candidates applied. The jury, consisting of Melleville, Halévy, Thomas, Scribe, Saint-Georges, Leborne, Gounod, Massé, Bazin and Gevaert under the chairmanship of Auber, shortlisted six candidates, as announced on 14-9-1856: Bizet (still a student at the Conservatoire), Demerssemann, Erlanger, Lecocq, Limagne and Maniquet. The libretto Dr Miracle was assigned on 28-9-1856. The operas had to be submitted by 15-12-1856.

On 29-12-1856 the jury awarded the first prize equally to Bizet and Lecocq. Each winner received a prize of 600 francs and a gold medal worth 150 francs.

Autograph score: F-Pn MS 470, given by Mme Geneviève Bizet-Straus to Camille Bellaigue in 1924, and by Bellaigue to the Conservatoire in 1928. 30-stave paper, 355 x 275 mm., 122 f. (212 p. of music). Each number is a separate fascicle. Foliation has been added. In the Ouverture the trombone and timpani parts have been crossed out, probably not by Bizet, whereas the hundred or more bars crossed through in the rest of the score are certainly evidence of Bizet’s own revisions.

Preliminary leaf, in another hand:

Cette partition autographe de Georges Bizet m’a été donné par Mme Bizet Straus au mois de
mars 1924
Mars 1926 Camille Bellaigue
et par moi donné à la Bibliothèque du Conservatoire en décembre 1928
Camille Bellaigue

f. 1r:

Ouverture	f. 1v-10r
Le Docteur Miracle / Georges Bizet / No 1 Trio	f. 11r–42r
No 1bis	f. 42r
Le Docteur Miracle / Georges Bizet / No 2 Romance	f. 43r–46r
Le Docteur Miracle / Georges Bizet / No 3 Couplet	f. 47r–51r
Le Docteur Miracle / Georges Bizet / No 4 Quatuor	f. 52r–81v
Le Docteur Miracle / Georges Bizet / No 5 Duo et Trio	f. 82r–102v
No. 5bis	f. 103r
Le Docteur Miracle / Georges Bizet / No 6 / Quatuor final	f. 104r–122r

Autograph part: F-Pn MS 469, Malherbe bequest. Rôle for Le Podestat. Oblong 12-stave paper, 18 f. (30 p. of music). Two staves throughout, with cues on the upper stave, Le Podestat on the lower stave. The part includes nos 1, 4 and 5; it lacks no. 6.

Manuscript full score: Obtainable from Alkor Edition, Kassel, AE 119, 1962, 223 p.

Printed libretto:

pages:

1-36

date:

1857

copies

F-Pn ThB 2927

Oxford University Press, London, 26 p., 1964, in English (translated by David Harris).

Privately printed, 1976, in English, (translated by Robert Lehmeyer). Copy: US-G

Printed vocal scores:

pl. no:

EFM 732

pages:

title page, Personnages, music p. 1–162

date:

1962

note:

This edition omits nos 1bis and 5bis. It cuts 52 bars from no. 1 and adds four bars (bars 141–44) to no. 6.

copies:

109 copies in WorldCat

Reissued by Editions françaises de musique, 1975, and by Billaudot, c. 1990.

Alkor, Kassel, AE 119, 1962, 106 p., as Doktor Mirakel, in German (translated by Klaus Jossa). This edition includes nos 1bis and 5bis.

Alkor, Kassel, AE 119a, 1962, 102 p., as Doktor Mirakel, in German (translated by Eberhard Schmidt). This edition includes nos 1bis and 5bis.

Oxford University Press, London, 1964, in English (translated by David Harris)

Printed full score: not known

Printed full score, Ouverture:

1Oxford University Press, London, 50 p., 1972, arranged by David Stone.

Printed orchestral parts, Ouverture:

1Oxford University Press, London, 1972, arranged by David Stone.

Letters:

25-12-1856 Bizet to Gustave Delsarte:

'Ne te dérange pas vendredi soir pour venir chercher le résultat de mon concours, car il est remis et n’aura lieu que lundi.'

Vente Drout 16-10-1991, Lacombe p. 157

8-4-1857 Bizet to ?:

'Cher maître, c’est demain la première de mon opérette.'

Wright, p. 3

1-10-1867 Bizet to Félix Jahyer:

'Ce n’est pas avec Jonas que j’ai eu le prix aux Bouffes-Parisiens mais bien avec Ch: Lecocq: la pièce était intitulée Le Docteur Miracle et non le Roi boit !'

Wright, p. 16

Documents:

Announcements concerning the competition:

Revue et gazette musicale: 14-9-1856, 7-9-1856, 30-11-1856, 21-12-1856.

Performances:

9-4-1857, Bouffes-Parisiens, Paris

Le Podestat – Pradeau
Véronique – Mlle Macé
Laurette – Mlle Dalmont
Silvio – Gerpré
conductor – Alphonse Varney

There were eleven performances, alternating with Lecocq’s setting of the same libretto.

Paul Smith, Revue et gazette musicale, 12-4-1857
J. Lovy, Le Ménestrel, 12-4-1857
L. Escudier, La France musicale, 12-4-1857
Albert Monnier, Le Messager des théâtres et des arts, 15-4-1857
Ch. Desolme, L’Europe artiste, 19-4-1857
G. d’Avrigny, L’Assemblée nationale, 20-4-1857
L. et M. Escudier, Le Pays, 21-4-1857
L. Kreutzer, L’Union, 24-4-1857

The Revue et gazette musicale of 19-4-1857 and 31-5-1857 refer to the success of the Bouffes Parisiens' visit to St James’s Theatre, London, which was planned to include performances of Le Docteur Miracle. Bizet's work seems not to have been performed there.

16-1-1953	London, BBC	English (tr. David Harris)
12-1956	Leeds
8-12-1957	London, Park Lane Opera Group
4-6-1958	Bath
1958	Ingestre, Stafford
7-3-1962	London, St Pancras
6-2-1963	Wellington
1963	Nürnberg	German (tr. Klaus Jossa)
1963	Linz	German (tr. Klaus Jossa)
6-1-1966	Tel Aviv
6-6-1966	Amsterdam Kunstmaandorkest (televised)
5-12-1966	Waltham Abbey
1970s	Vienna, Volksoper
24-3-1971	New York, Mannes
6-1975	Hagen
1975	Spoleto
1975	Radio France
22-4-1977	Palermo
1979	Chicago
23-11-1979	Tours
25-5-1980	Spoleto
29-5-1980	Charleston
1980	Montreal
3-12-1981	London
4-11-1983	Boston, NEC	English
29-1-1984	Boston, NEC	English
12-1987	Florence
14-7-1988	Laxenburg
29-5-1990	Paris, Opéra-Comique
1991	Berlin	German (tr. Jossa)
1993	Frankfurt-am-Oder	German (tr. Jossa)
5-2-1994	Boston, NEC	English
1995	Paris
1998	Berlin
19-11-1999	Evanston	English
2004	Bougival
19-2005	Wexford
2006	Hanover	German (tr. Jossa)
spring 2009	Oklahoma City
6-2-2010	Tacoma
3-12-2010	Odense
3-2011	Toronto (Royal Conservatory)
12-2011	London (Royal College of Music)
19-1-2013	Dallas
23-10-2010	Wexford	English

Lecocq’s Le Docteur Miracle was revived in London on 28-3-1984.

Discography:

Goldsborough O, Priestman, 1959
Royal PO, Tausky, 1961 (Ouverture)
ORTF, de Almeida, 1973
ORTF, Bruno Amaducci, broadcast 1-3-1976
- Laurette – Christiane Eda-Pierre
- Father – Robert Massard
- Sylvio – Rémy Corazza
- Véronique – Lyliane Guitton
- Speakers – Catherine Salviat, René Camion, Claire Viret, Alain Pralon
Lublin PO, Talpain Didier, 2002

Bibliography:

Pigot (1886) 9
Pigot (1911) 7-8
Curtiss 40-44, 62, 465
Dean 9, 10, 48, 159-60, 163, 260
Wright 9, 30, 35, 53, 56, 159-60, 187, 332, 334, 339-40
Lacombe 117, 151–57, 160–66, 169, 208, 267, 291, 297, 683, 723, 731

Marmontel, Symphonistes et virtuoses (Paris: Chaix, 1880), p. 252.
Louis Schneider, Hervé et Lecocq (Paris, 1924), p. 135
John W. Klein, ‘Bizet’s Early Operas’, Music and Letters, 18 (1937), p. 169-75
Ernst Hartmann, 'Georges Bizet – ein Leben für die Opera', Das Musikleben, II (March 1948), p. 72-76.
Paul Hopkins, 'A Link Between Bizet and Sheridan', Musical Times, 7-1992, p. 328.
Dictionnaire de l’opéra-comique français (Paris, 1998)