La Marjolaine
La Marjolaine is a three‑act opéra bouffe with music by Charles Lecocq and words by Eugène Leterrier and Albert Vanloo. It opened in Paris on February 3, 1877, at the Théâtre de la Renaissance and ran for 117 performances.
The story takes place in 16th‑century Flanders and centers on Marjolaine, a simple country girl who marries Palamède, Baron Van der Boom, a rich but aging bachelor who once led a group that tried to seduce other men’s wives. Marjolaine has won the city’s medal for virtue multiple times and hopes to keep her reputation. A league of predatory bachelors, led by Annibal, tries to ruin her, while her husband backs her.
In Act 2, at the baron’s castle, Marjolaine seems to fall into trouble when Annibal hides in her room to spy on her. Frickel, the clockmaker and Marjolaine’s former lover, warns her, but she is discovered with a man in her room. The baron loses the castle to Annibal after the bet is spoiled.
Act 3 moves to a villa near Brussels. The baron is now poor, Frickel and Marjolaine travel the countryside selling clocks, and a divorce is arranged. Annibal hopes Marjolaine will choose him, but she rejects both suitors and says she has won true virtue with Frickel.
The first production outside France was in Brussels in March 1877. London’s British premiere followed in October 1877, with Kate Santley as Marjolaine, and New York’s American premiere appeared the same month. The opera was later staged in Vienna (1880) and Montevideo (1881).
Critics praised Lecoccq’s music, especially the first act, and noted that La Marjolaine moves toward a refined opera‑comique style. Some reviews described the libretto as lively and a little spicy. Overall, it was well received as an engaging, stylish piece, though it did not reach the same box‑office heights as Lecocq’s biggest hit La fille de Madame Angot.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 17:24 (CET).