Fanchon

There are a number of related theatrical works known by this title:

Fanchon la Vielleuse a vaudeville piece in three acts written by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly (1763-1842) and Joseph Maria Pain (1773-1830), with music composed and arranged by Joseph-Denis Doche (1766-1825). The French piece was first performed at the Théâtre du Vaudeville, Paris, on 18 January 1803, and published in Paris by Barba in the same year. Based on an actual young singer, the play tells of the adventures and tribulations of a Savoyard waif who becomes rich singing in the boulevards of Paris.

Fanchon das Leyermädchen is German Singspiel ("ballad opera") in three acts by Friedrich Heinrich Himmel (1765–1814)[1], with a libretto by August von Kotzebue (1761-1819)[], based on the French play by Bouilly and Pain.

Though generally referred to simply as Fanchon, the German work originally had the working title of Fanchon das Leyermaedchen (a "Lustspiel mit Gesang"), but seems to be most opten to be found under the alternative full title of Fanchon das Leyermädchen (an "Oper(ette) nach dem französischen Vaudeville") and even Fanchon oder das Leyermädel.

The original text

The German singspiel, using a libretto by August von Kotzebue, was composed in 1804 and first performed in Berlin at the National Theatre on 5 May, 1804.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1866: Performed as Lucretia Borgia by the Le Roy-Duret Company in the Harrington Street Theatre, Cape Town, on

Sources

Facsimile version of the original 1803 edition of the vaudeville comedy, Google Books[2]

https://imslp.org/wiki/Fanchon_das_Leyerm%C3%A4dchen_(Himmel%2C_Friedrich_Heinrich)

"Himmel, Friedrich Heinrich" in Opening Night! Opera & Oratorio Premieres, Stanford University Libraries[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Heinrich_Himmel

D.C. Boonzaier, 1923. "My playgoing days – 30 years in the history of the Cape Town stage", in SA Review, 9 March and 24 August 1932. (Reprinted in Bosman 1980: pp. 374-439.)

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1912. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp.203-205

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