Les deux journées, ou Le porteur d'eau (The Two Days, or The Water Carrier) is an opera in three acts by Luigi Cherubini with a libretto by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly. It takes the form of an opéra comique, meaning not that the subject matter is humorous, but that the piece is a mixture of spoken dialogue and musical numbers. Bouilly claimed he took the story from a real life incident during the French Revolution but, for fear of censorship, he moved t...
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Les deux journées, ou Le porteur d'eau (The Two Days, or The Water Carrier) is an opera in three acts by Luigi Cherubini with a libretto by Jean-Nicolas Bouilly. It takes the form of an opéra comique, meaning not that the subject matter is humorous, but that the piece is a mixture of spoken dialogue and musical numbers. Bouilly claimed he took the story from a real life incident during the French Revolution but, for fear of censorship, he moved the action back to 1647 and the time of Cardinal Mazarin. Along with Médée it was Cherubini's most successful opera, though revivals have been rare in the past hundred years. It was given its first performance at the Théâtre Feydeau in Paris in 16 January 1800.
Mikeli's home
Mikeli, is a Savoyard water carrier living in Paris. Mikeli's son, Antonio, tells how as a child his life was saved by an unknown Frenchman. He is interrupted when Count Armand, a member of the French parliament, enters with his wife, Constance, begging Mikeli to save him...
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