Le Roi Carotte

Le Roi Carotte (King Carrot) is a 4-act opéra-bouffe-féerie with music by Jacques Offenbach and libretto by Victorien Sardou, after E. T. A. Hoffmann. The libretto, written before the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, lampooned Bonapartists, monarchists and republicans. Staging the piece required elaborate costumes and grand spectacle, including a wide range of locations and numerous scene changes.

The opera premiered at the Théâtre de la Gaîté on 15 January 1872. The first run lasted 195 performances, making a daily profit of 3,000 francs, and introducing Anna Judic in a principal operetta role.

The work was seen in London in 1872 and Vienna in 1876. After small-scale performances by Opéra Éclaté in 2007, the Opéra de Lyon staged the work in December 2015 in a production by Laurent Pelly, who had already directed several successful Offenbach revivals. The production, which included Christophe Mortagne in the title role, Julie Boulianne as Robin-Leuron, Yann Beuron as Fridolin and Antoinette Dennenfeld, conducted by Victor Aviat was broadcast on radio and television and was widely praised. "Le Roi Carotte" in this production won "Best Rediscovered Work" in the International Opera Awards 2016.

The U.S. premiere of Le roi Carotte took place in New York on 26 August 1872. The New York Times said that "the music is to be given with additions and alterations made for this country by Offenbach himself". Its run lasted until late autumn.

The libretto is in three acts.

It is sundown. Disguised as a student, at a brasserie, King Fridolin XXIV explains to his chief ministers that the frivolous behavior of his youth has all but bankrupted the kingdom. He therefore plans to wed Cunégonde, the princess of another kingdom. Uncertain whether she is at all attractive, he hopes to observe her arrival surreptitiously. Robin-Luron, a student, sings about the dissolute pleasures of student life. Fridolin asks Robin-Luron what he thinks of the king and his government. Robin-Luron responds with mockery. He knows of Fridolin's need to marry for money and, when he at last recognizes Fridolin, offers to purchase all the armor in the king's palace. As Fridolin considers his offer, Cunégonde arrives, traveling incognito in hopes of glimpsing Fridolin surreptitiously before agreeing to marry him. Fridolin and Cunégonde flirt, and she asks his opinion of the king, whom Fridolin praises. She sings an aria describing her life since leaving the convent and learning the ways of Parisian society. He decides he will marry her, and she leaves for the palace anticipating life in a kingdom that governs its people by festivities and spectacles. Fridolin and his ministers discuss whether his collection of armor is under a spell or if his old palace is haunted. Night has fallen as they march off to inspect it.

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