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A Salon Opera This week on the Lyric Stage

Two lovers find each other in the fantasy world of Marie Antoinette on The Lyric Stage Sunday (10/20 at 8 pm).

Marie Antoinette liked to escape from her royal duties into a fantasy of her own, by pretending to be a peasant in a world of happy peasants at her "petit trianon," or little house or villa on the royal estate at Versailles. It was a complete disaster as a public relations move, but that is the story for another time.

This week's opera, the one act La Laitiere de Trianon, or The Milkmaid of Trianon, takes place at Marie Antoinette's little Trianon. The story is of a betrothed couple who have never met, mistaken identity, and a happy resolution. It was first performed in Paris in 1858 at Gioacchino Rossini's home, and it was Rossini who encouraged Jean-Baptiste Weckerlin to write the music to a libretto by Galoppe d'Onquaire.

It is a salon opera, composed for a small setting with a piano accompaniment, in this case on a Saturday night after dinner.

Joan Rodgers and Yann Beuron are the two lovers, with pianist Jeff Cohen.

Mike Harrah is host of The Lyric Stage, which airs Sundays at 8 pm.