Adolphe Adam : Le Toréador, Overture (1849) Le toréador, ou L'accord parfait (The Toreador, or The Perfect Agreement) is an opéra comique in two acts by the French composer Adolphe Adam with a libretto by Thomas-Marie-François Sauvage. It was first performed at the Opéra-Comique, Paris on May 18, 1849. It was a huge success and the work regularly appeared in the repertoire of the Opéra-Comique until 1869. Adam made use of several familiar pieces of music in the score. The most famous number is a series of variations on "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman" (better known as the melody of "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" in the English-speaking world). The opera also quotes the aria "Tandis que tout sommeille" from Grétry's L'amant jaloux and "Je brûlerai d'une flamme éternelle" from the same composer's Le tableau parlant as well as popular folk tunes, including the Spanish fandango, cachucha and follia. In spite of this, there is little attempt to give the score local colour. The opera was originally intended to be a single act but was split in two to allow the soprano time to recover her breath in a taxing role. Roles Premiere Cast, May 18, 1849 (Conductor: Théophile Tilmant) Don Belflor a retired toreador - bass: Charles Battaille Coraline his wife - soprano : Delphine Ugalde Tracolin - tenor: Toussaint-Eugène-Ernest Mocker Synopsis Place: The gar­den of Don Belflor's house in Barcelona Act One Cora­line, a for­mer opera singer from Paris, is un­hap­pily mar­ried to the re­tired bull­fighter Don Belflor. She re­mem­bers how a flute-player, Tra­colin, was in love with her. At this point, Tra­colin him­self ap­pears in Barcelona, in­tent on re­new­ing his ac­quain­tance with Cora­line. The two ex­change love let­ters over the gar­den wall. Tra­colin saves Don Belfor from an at­tack by ruf­fi­ans and is in­vited into his house. He claims he is act­ing as a go-be­tween for a dancer at the opera, Caritéa, who has fallen in love with Don Belflor. The old man is flat­tered but asks for fur­ther proof and Tra­colin can think of no other re­course but to give him Cora­line's let­ter. As Don Belflor is leav­ing for li­ai­son with Caritéa, Cora­line ac­cuses him of adul­tery. In his con­fu­sion Don Belflor drops the let­ter on the floor. The hor­ri­fied Cora­line be­lieves that she has been found out. Act Two Cora­line can­not un­der­stand why Don Belfor has not re­acted an­grily to the con­tents of the let­ter. Tra­colin climbs over the gar­den wall and tells her he has been in love with her since they met at the opera. He re­veals the de­tails of her hus­band's adul­tery then leaves the gar­den. When Don Belflor re­turns, Cora­line again ac­cuses him of in­f ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5S6dWVNnEc

Good Listening by MikoNatt ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa6zGQUjvs0