Marouf, savetier du Caire (Marouf, Cobbler of Cairo)

(Henri Ribaud)

This work is a comic opera by the composer Henri Ribaud, with the libretto by Lucien Nepoty, premiered in 1914 in France at the Opera-Comique Paris with the title role played by the operatic baritone and actor Jean Perier. It was later performed in 1917 at the Metropoitan Opera, New York and is seen as Henri Ribaud’s most successful opera. In 2013, nearly 100 years after it’s Paris premiere, it was performed again at at the Opera-Comique, Paris.

The story is based on one of the Arabian Nights tales where the cobbler, Marouf, falsely accused of beating his wife, travels to Khaitan with some sailors and pretends to be a rich merchant who is awaiting his caravan. This pretence impresses a sultan who soon offers him his daughter’s hand but it doesn’t last as his ruse is discovered and he is forced to flee. However, the sultan’s daughter, Princess Saamcheddine, has already fallen in love with him and follows him in his escape.

Along the way Marouf helps a stranger, who is actually a genie, in the desert and is given a ring where the genie grants him power that sees his claims about the non-existent caravan turned round to become a reality. This, of course, makes the sultan change his mind about Marouf and his story and gives him the freedom to marry Princess Saamcheddine. Vizier, who is jealous of Marouf and been trying to expose him is then castigated by the sultan.

The opera had its world premiere recording by the Loire Philharmonic Orchestra in 1977 with several other orchestras recording the dances and music from it.

Minnesota Orchestra recordings
Marouf, savetier du Caire: Dances
(CD: Exotic Dances from the Opera Reference Recordings RR-71CD)
Conductor: Eiji Oue

Sources:

Marouf, savetier du Caire (Marouf, Cobbler of Cairo)

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