Emmanuel Chabrier’s L’Étoile is a delightful operetta in the style of Offenbach, with catchy melodies and a satirical libretto. Even the can-can is not missing. And yet…

Press cartoon for the premiere by Félix Régamey

Few people, including great operetta lovers really know L’Étoile well. Why is that? The quality of the work, which premiered in Offenbach’s Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens in 1877, is not to be blamed. There is nothing wrong with it at all. But it is a fact that the only complete recording of the work has been taken off the market.

In 2016 John Eliot Gardiner led a truly fantastic performance in Lyon, with Colette Alliot-Lugaz, François Le Roux and Gabriel Bacqier, among others. French TV filmed it and released it on DVD, and EMI made a studio recording of it. Both the production and the performance were praised to the skies, but… gone they are! The internet does offer some solace, but for a used copy they charge something like a fortune.

A small clip on YouTube:

The complete EMI recording can still be found on Spotify

L’Etoile was played in Amsterdam in October 2014. It was fun, but really ooed?

There are also clips from Berlin (delicious!), Frankfurt, Geneva and Montpellier, among others, definitely worth watching!

If you don’t know that much about Chabrier and his music is still a bit of a tabula rasa for you, I can recommend the CD of his orchestral works. Conducted by Neeme Järvi, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande recorded all his most important works for orchestra in 2013, including his greatest hit España and three excerpts from L’Étoile (Chandos CHSA 5122). Highly recommended!