Le Petit Matelot, ou Le Mariage Impromptu

Le Petit Matelot, ou Le Mariage Impromptu ("The small sailor, or the impromptu marriage") is an Opera Comique[1] in one act by Pigault Lebrun (Charles Antoine Guillaume Pigault Lebrun, 1753-1835)[2], with music by Pierre Gaveaux (1761-1825)[3]

The original text

First performed at the Théâtre de la rue Faydeau, and published in Paris by Huet and the Frères Gaveaux in 1796.

Performance history in South Africa

1808: First performed in Cape Town by the French Theatrical Company on 8 October, 1808. It appears to have taken place in their own theatre.

1809: On 4 February 1809 another performance was undertaken by the French company, this time in the African Theatre , and possibly with the participation of C.E. Boniface, as an afterpiece to Les Deux Frères, ou La Réconciliation (Von Kotzebue) (The text used was most probably the 1799 translation by Weiss, Jauffret and Patrat.)