Le roi malgré lui
Le roi malgré lui (King in Spite of Himself or The reluctant king) is an opéra-comique in three acts by Emmanuel Chabrier of 1887 with an original libretto by Emile de Najac and Paul Burani.[1] The opera is revived occasionally, but has not yet found a place in repertory.
Le roi malgré lui
Synopsis[edit]
Act 1[edit]
A castle outside Kraków, in 1574
The Polish people have elected a French noble, Henri de Valois, to become their king. In a castle near Kraków he awaits incognito his coronation.
French nobles are idly waiting for news from Kraków. Nangis, a friend of Henri, returns from the city, where he had been sent to drum up support for the future king. Although the ordinary people had been well-disposed towards Henri, the nobility, led by Count Albert Laski, seemed to be joining together to oppose him and support the other claimant to the throne, the Archduke of Austria.
However, the Duke of Fritelli, a Venetian living in Poland, has managed to become Henri's chamberlain while remaining in league with Laski. He enters, busy with preparations for the coronation, pretending to Nangis that he does not know Laski, and, on learning of the king's continued homesickness, cannot resist airing his views on the differences between the Poles and the French in a comic song.
After Fritelli has gone, Nangis confesses to his friends that during the eight days he has been away trying to raise an army, he has fallen in love with a charming girl, Minka, who unfortunately is a slave in Laski's household. Minka now enters, avoiding a pursuing sentry; she tells Nangis that she has only come for a moment, but when Nangis takes this to mean that she does not love him anymore, she gently rebukes him and asks him to be patient. She promises to return later that day, but as she is about to leave, the king himself arrives and Nangis only has time to hide her in an anteroom.
The homesick king sings of his love for France and says that he would do anything not to be king of Poland. Nangis reminds him that he has not always been so ill-disposed to the Poles; there was a certain lady Henri had known in Venice... Henri's fond memories are interrupted by the return of Fritelli, and it soon becomes apparent that the lady with whom Henri had a liaison in Venice soon after became the wife of Fritelli in order to cover up the scandal of that affair.
When Henri and Nangis leave, Fritelli is naturally more determined than ever to rid Poland of Henri. His frenzy is cut short by the arrival of his wife, Alexina, who says that all is ready for Henri's departure: all Fritelli has to do is kidnap Henri and Laski's men will do the rest. When the frightened Fritelli says he does not want glory - just a bit of affection, Alexina brushes his objections aside and they leave.
Minka comes out of hiding, but she bumps into the king (whom she doesn't know). She says she loves Monsieur Nangis but is worried that there is a plot against the king. Henri can hardly contain his delight, which increases more when she says that Fritelli is implicated. When Minka has left, Henri sends for Fritelli, and after some initial resistance he confesses the plot to Henri and tells him all he wants to know. Fritelli is astonished when Henri says that he too wishes to join the conspiracy; Fritelli is to introduce him to Laski as the Count de Nangis.
Trumpets sound and the French courtiers assemble. Henri has Nangis arrested, so as to be able to use his identity to conspire against the king. Nangis is led away.
Fritelli presents Henri (as Nangis) to his wife, Alexina, who recognizes him as the Frenchman with whom she had had the affair in Venice years before. Minka's lone voice is heard off-stage, and as the curtain falls, Nangis manages to let slip his captors, jump out of a window and escape.
Act 2[edit]
The ballroom of the palace of the Count Albert Laski
Radio broadcasts of the opera have included:
Notes
Sources