Cycle
Folies parisiennes

Le Petit Faust

Opéra-bouffe in three acts and four scenes by Hervé, on a libretto by Hector Crémieux and Adolphe Jaime, premiered at the Théâtre des Folies-Dramatiques (Paris) on 23 April 1869.
Operetta
© Loïc Le Gall
The first performance of this three-act opéra-bouffe was given barely two months after the new version of Gounod’s Faust was staged at the Paris Opéra. Leaving aside the metaphysical aspect of the myth, the librettists Hector Crémieux and Adolphe Jaime created instead a moral satire. Their Marguerite – not as pure and innocent as the Germanic Gretchen – wreaks havoc at the boarding school to which she is brought by her brother Valentin. She seduces Dr Faust, the elderly professor who has accepted her as a pupil. Méphisto – a breeches role, taken by a light soprano – rejuvenates Faust, and the lovers end up in Hell, doomed to be together forever.

Le Petit Faust owed its success above all to the music by Hervé, who quoted only very sparingly from Gounod’s score. His inventiveness in parodying the style of the original and its various situations was greatly admired by the critics.

Dates

Sun 16 November 2025
15.00
Opéra de Tours, Tours CAST
Tue 18 November 2025
20.00
Opéra de Tours, Tours CAST
Sat 29 November 2025
20.00
Opéra de Reims, Reims CAST
Sun 30 November 2025
15.00
Opéra de Reims, Reims CAST
From 13 to 20 December 2025
Athénée Théâtre Louis-Jouvet, Paris CAST
Staged version
Co-production Bru Zane France / Opéra de Tours / Opéra de Reims / Palazzetto Bru Zane / Les Frivolités Parisiennes
Executive producer Bru Zane France
Sets made by the workshops of the Opéra de Reims
Costumes made by the workshops of the Opéra de Tours
Score published by the Palazzetto Bru Zane
Bru Zane Mediabase
Digital resources for French Romantic music
The website hosts articles on people, works and topics authored by musicologists and historians collaborating with Palazzetto Bru Zane.