Abstract
A dog – bearing the name Barkouf – was appointed ruler of a mighty city by the Great Mogul, who wanted to humiliate his unruly people. Theatrical genius Jacques Offenbach provoked the wrath of the Parisian censors of the Second French Empire with this work to such an extent that the newly-composed opéra comique was completely banned. The censors found that the work was «an incessant mockery of the highest authority of our time and our country». Further objectionable was also the fact that the actual reins of power in this play are held by a woman: Barkouf’s former owner Maïma, a young flower seller. She thought her dog lost, but rediscovers him on the throne, and arranges to be made the translator to new four-legged head of state by the Grand Vizier Bababeck. Maïma seizes the moment and, acting as Barkouf's mouthpiece, grants generous pardons and tax cuts. While the people rejoice, there’s conspiratorial trouble afoot… None of Offenbach’s works are as politically biting as this one, which was premiered in Paris in 1860. It resurfaced only recently in an archive belonging to Offenbach’s descendants. Musically speaking, Barkouf is a true bijou and numbers among the composer’s most experimental works. It alternates between grand opera and operetta, thrilling with its sprightly music, and plays convincingly with bel canto melodiousness reminiscent of a Donizetti or Rossini. And the score’s bold harmonic turns reveal that Offenbach occasionally looked to his polar opposite Richard Wagner.
Max Hopp staged this parable about power as a colorful revue, one that takes pleasure in dramatic exaggeration. For the revival, French conductor Jérémie Rhorer returns to the podium. American coloratura soprano Brenda Rae once again sings the challenging role of Maïma for this series of performances, and Dutch character tenor Marcel Beekman, as Bababeck, delivers a performance not to be missed.