Les bavards

Les bavards (English: The Chatterboxes) is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, by Jacques Offenbach, with a French libretto by Charles-Louis-Étienne Nuitter based on a story originally by Cervantes, ‘Los dos habladores’.

Les bavards was originally created as Bavard et bavarde in one-act form and performed at the Kurtheater, Bad Ems in June 1862. It became Die Schwätzerin von Saragossa for Vienna in November of that year, and was produced in its final two-act form at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens, Paris (Salle Choiseul) on 20 February 1863, with Delphine Ugalde as Roland, Thompson as Inès, Tostée as Béatrix and Étienne Pradeau as Sarmiento, conducted by Offenbach. It entered the repertoire of the Paris Opéra Comique on 3 May 1924 conducted by Maurice Frigara, produced by Albert Carré, with Germaine Gallois as Roland and Marguerite Roger as Béatrix.

It was recorded (as Pratkvarnen) on Swedish television in 1981 with Britt Marie Aruhn and Enzo Florimo among the principals.

A critical edition has been published as part of the Offenbach Edition Keck (OEK), and the work is still occasionally performed.

Roland, a penniless young poet, is trying to escape from his various creditors and succeeds in hiding from them; he finds himself outside Sarmiento’s house.
He has fallen in love with Inès, the niece of Sarmiento, a wealthy man kept busy counting his money, who is wearied by his talkative wife Béatrix. Going out, Sarmiento meets his wife coming home, talking continuously, who launches into a song about her good character, then leaves again, still talking. Next the alcade Cristobal, also a chatterbox, passes by, sympathizing with Sarmiento’s lot.
As Sarmiento returns to go back into his house, Roland comes out from his hiding place and decides to take advantage of the situation. He begins a long recitation of his woes and in the ensuing duet agrees to get Béatrix to stay quiet (hoping also to be in close proximity to his beloved Inès). Sarmiento asks him to come to dinner once he has found better clothes; as Roland’s creditors appear again he rushes off dragging Sarmiento with him. The creditors go off to find Roland while Cristobal and Torribo doze off guarding the front door. Sarmiento and Roland, now finely dressed, return and enter the house.

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