Don Procopio

Don Procopio is a two-act opera buffa by Georges Bizet with an Italian libretto completed in 1859, and first performed in 1906.

Bizet spent 1857 to 1860 in Italy as winner of the Prix de Rome. Looking for inspiration for a work to send home, he found the subject for his opera buffa in a second-hand bookstall in Rome, writing home that the piece was "an Italian farce in the manner of Don Pasquale" by Carlo Cambiaggio (1798–1880). The words were a reduced version of I pretendenti delusi (1811) by Giuseppe Mosca (1772–1839).

Composition was sporadic over the winter of 1858–59; Bizet confessed that he was still trying to find his voice, although he intentionally aimed at an Italian style for this piece. The report from the Prix de Rome judges noted advances, but a later report signed by Ambroise Thomas criticised Bizet for sending an opéra bouffe as his first envoi and suggested he divert his attention away from this toward sacred music (although Bizet failed to submit a religious envoi of any sort from Rome).

There are three printed scores of Don Procopio, a vocal score published in 1905 before the premiere, a full score and a second vocal score, all of which are misleading by failing to distinguish genuine Bizet from fake (entr'acte and recitatives). The second and third scores contain two airs for Don Procopio adapted from Bizet's songs; additional instruments were added to the scoring. The autograph score of Don Procopio was discovered in the papers left by Daniel Auber at his death in 1871 and it was acquired from the Auber family by the Paris Conservatoire in 1894.

The first production, in the revised edition by Charles Malherbe, was at the Salle Garnier in Monte Carlo on 10 March 1906, in a double-bill with Pagliacci. There were performances in Barcelona in 1907 and Rome in 1908. The original version was performed at the Théatre Municipal in Strasbourg on 6 February 1958. Lost and Found Opera presented the Australian premiere in June 2016 in Balcatta, Perth.Opera South (UK) presented what they believed was Bizet’s pure composition at Charterhouse School in Godalming, Surrey, England in October 2016.

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