About the work
Opéra comique in two acts by Charles Gounod to a libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Jean de La Fontaine's poem "Le faucon", itself drawn from a tale in Boccaccio's "Decameron". The one-act original premiered on 3 August 1860 in Baden-Baden; the expanded two-act version followed on 7 June 1866 at the Paris Opéra-Comique.
Plot
The impoverished nobleman Horace loves the wealthy Countess Sylvie but refuses to slaughter his beloved pet dove for a dinner in her honour — not even for her sake. When his servant mistakenly serves a rival's escaped parrot instead of the dove, the bird survives and becomes an emblem of Horace's persistent love, which is finally returned.
Cultural significance
The Baden-Baden premiere was warmly received, but the expanded 1866 version at the Opéra-Comique fell well short of that success, managing only 29 performances.