About the work
L'éclair is a three-act opéra comique by Fromental Halévy to a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges, scored for just four solo voices and no chorus. It premiered on 16 December 1835 at the Paris Opéra-Comique (Salle de la Bourse).
Plot
In contemporary Boston, the Englishman George and the American Lyonel court two sisters, Henriette and the widow Mme Darbel. When Lyonel is struck by lightning during a storm and left temporarily blind, the already tangled romantic entanglements grow more complicated still, before the right couples are finally matched.
Cultural significance
The success of L'éclair gave Halévy the unusual distinction of triumphing simultaneously with an opéra comique and his grand opera La Juive on the Paris stage. Its reduced cast without chorus remained unusual for French repertoire; the opera was still being staged in New Orleans in 1837 and with Emma Calvé in 1885.