Le Serrurier Opera Buffon; Essai sur l'Opéra-Comique - Quétant, François-Antoine 1733-1823; Kohaut, Joseph 1738-? (Paris Duchesne, 1766)
'Le Serrurier' (The Locksmith) is a one-act comic opera based on a drama by M. de La Ribardière. It premiered on 20 December 1764 at the Comédie-Italienne in Paris, at the Hôtel de Bourgogne. The information in the printed libretto indicates that before the performance at the Comédie-Italienne, the work was performed privately at the home of Prince Conti and was also dedicated to him. In total, it was performed 34 times at the Comédie-Italienne; although most of the performances date from 1764-1769, it was still being performed in 1779.
The score of Le Serrurier (https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1163875g/f5.item) was published in its time and therefore - unlike many of Kohaut's other works - survived. In addition, numerous melodies from it were also published in contemporary collections of arias, which, along with the number of performances at the Comédie-Italienne and documented productions at other theatres, attest to the popularity of the piece at the time. 'Le Serrurier' was created in a time that the genre of opéra comique was undergoing a significant transformation: while performances with pre-existing and re-textured music ("vaudeville") had prevailed, "ariettes", melodies written specifically for comic operas, began to penetrate comic operas, and from the turn of the 1750s onwards, "ariettes" were written for comic operas. Among the early examples of this kind is Kohaut's The Locksmith. Interestingly, Quétant himself, the author of the libretto, theorized on the issue - among other things in a special treatise accompanying the printed libretto of The Locksmith, entitled 'Essai sur 'opera comique' - and preferred vaudeville to "true" comic opera
Josef Kohaut was born into a czech musical family: his father was an organist in Saaz (today Žatec). He was a troupe trumpeter in the Austrian army, but defected to France, where he was known as composer and lutenist in the chapel of Louis-François de Bourbon, Prince de Conti, where he was engaged. In this capacity, he wrote a number of operas for the Comédie Italienne, and sonatas for harpsichord. His greatest success was Le Serrurier, since it is cited five years after its premiere on December 20, 1764, and the libretto has been translated into German, Dutch, Czech and Swedish.
Czech wikipedia article about this opera:https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C3%A1me%C4%8Dn%C3%ADk_(opera)
Premiered on 20 December 1764 at the Comédie-Italienne in Paris, at the Hôtel de Bourgogne.
Représentée pour la première fois par les Comédiens Italiens Ordinaires du Roi, le 20 Décembre 1764
Keywords: Opéra-Comique (Paris, France); Hôtel de Bourgogne (Paris, France); 18th Century (1701-1800); Libretto; Opéra comique; Music history; Paris (France)