La Basoche

La Basoche is an opéra comique in three acts, with music by André Messager and a French libretto by Albert Carré.

The opera debuted at the Opéra-Comique in Paris in 1890 and was mounted in Brussels in 1890, Geneva in 1891, London in 1891–1892 and New York in 1893. Since then it has been revived in France and elsewhere.

Messager's 1889 opérette Le mari de la reine at Bouffes-Parisiens was a disappointment, and the composer and his wife were struggling to afford even basic necessities until he found success with La Basoche.The title of the operetta refers to the old Parisian guild of law clerks that was abolished with the French revolution in the 18th century.

La Basoche was first performed at the Opéra-Comique (Salle du Théâtre Lyrique, place du Châtelet), Paris, on 30 May 1890 and was initially given on 51 nights. It was revived there up to the Second World War and given at least another 150 performances, with Jean Périer, André Baugé playing Clément Marot and Lucien Fugère repeating the role of the duke. Messager himself conducted the 1900, 1902 and 1919 productions at the Opéra-Comique, while later revivals were conducted by Gustave Cloëz and Albert Wolff. In 1908 the work entered the repertoire of the Théâtre de la Gaîté in Paris, the cast including Baugé, Edmée Favart and Fugère and was revived there in 1927. It was presented at the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin in 1934 under the management of Maurice Lehmann with Baugé and Yvonne Brothier.

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