Le postillon de Lonjumeau (The Coachman of Lonjumeau) is an opéra-comique in three acts by Adolphe Adam to a French libretto by 'Adolphe de Leuven' and 'Brunswick' (pen names of Adolphe von Ribbing and Léon Lévy).
The opera has become the most successful of Adam's works and the one by which he is best known outside his native France. The opera is known for the difficult aria Mes amis, écoutez l'histoire which has been called a test for tenors bec...
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Le postillon de Lonjumeau (The Coachman of Lonjumeau) is an opéra-comique in three acts by Adolphe Adam to a French libretto by 'Adolphe de Leuven' and 'Brunswick' (pen names of Adolphe von Ribbing and Léon Lévy).
The opera has become the most successful of Adam's works and the one by which he is best known outside his native France. The opera is known for the difficult aria Mes amis, écoutez l'histoire which has been called a test for tenors because of the demanding high D, or D5, in the end of the aria.
The opera was first performed in Paris at the Opéra-Comique on 13 October 1836. Performances followed in London at the St. James Theatre on 13 March 1837, and in New Orleans at the Théâtre d'Orléans on 19 April 1838.
Recent productions have been mounted in the Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden (from 4 August 2000) under Sebastian Weigle, directed by Alexander Schulin with Gert Henning-Jensen (Chapelou), Simone Nold (Madeleine), Hanno-Müller Brachmann (Biju), Klaus Häger (Corcy), and...
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