the opera convey the impression that they use existing material", because of what is described as "Massenet’s technique of approximation and transformation". Jean's ‘Alléluia du vin’ in act 1, or the monks' Benedicite are both hard to match with an existing setting, and while they "may sound like real sacred music, it is virtually impossible to verify any specific origin". Performance history Following the 1902 premiere in Monte Carlo, the opera was seen in Paris at the Opéra-Comique on 10 May 1904, with Maréchal repeating his premiere role, Lucien Fugère as Boniface, and André Allard as the prior. Later revivals included principal singers Charles Friant, Marcel Claudel (Jean), Jean Vieuille (Boniface), and Hector Dufranne (Prieur). Up to 1950 the opera received 356 performances at the Salle Favart. Fugère was still playing Boniface at the Opéra-Comique in 1922 aged 74; it is likely that the role of Boniface was written specifically for him. Opera impresario Oscar Hammerstein I envisioned recasting the role of Jean the juggler as a star vehicle for the famous soprano Mary Garden with his Manhattan Opera Company; a casting choice which, according to some sources, horrified composer Massenet, who meant the role for a tenor. She performed the role for the work's United States premiere on November 27, 1908, at the Manhattan Opera House. Garden popularised the opera in the United States, performing it widely and with some frequency through 1931. Hammerstein also cast Jean as a soprano when he staged the work at his London Opera House in 1911, this time with French soprano Victoria Fer. After Garden's final performance of Jean with the Chicago Opera Company in 1931, the work was not performed in the United States again until soprano Colette D'Arville portrayed Jean with the Newark Civic Grand Opera in April 1942. The work was revived at the Opéra-Comique in 1954, passing the 400th performance at the house, with André Dran singing Jean with "great charm and intelligence... even the juggling tricks and the dances were convincingly performed"; Louis Musy was Boniface, and Albert Wolff conducted. It was producted in Nantes in 1979 with Albert Voli in the title role and Jean-Christophe Benoît as Boniface. Preceded by Massenet's ballet Le Cigale, contemporary of the opera, Le Jongleur was performed at the Massenet Festival in 2005 conducted by Laurent Campellone with American tenor, Jesús Garcia, “whose theatrical and gymnastic experience stood him in good stead”