Pomme d'api is a one-act opérette of 1873 by Jacques Offenbach with a French libretto by Ludovic Halévy and William Busnach. Background Offenbach had heard Louise Théo singing in café-concert in Paris and although her voice was unremarkable, her stage presence made him decide to centre his next stage work around her. Run-throughs of the opera took place during the summer of 1873 at the 'Villa Orphée' home in Étretat which Offenbach had built and furnished with the royalties from Orphée aux Enfers. Théo's success in Pomme d'api stimulated Offenbach to create a full-length work around her for the Renaissance. In seven weeks he composed La jolie parfumeuse, which, as with the one-act piece, perfectly suited her talent. Performance history The première was on 4 September 1873 at the Théâtre de la Renaissance, Paris, on the same bill as La permission de dix heures. On 20 April 1874 Pomme d'api was seen at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens on a bill with Les rendez-vous bourgeois and La chanson de Fortunio and ran for 60 performances. In 1877 it was staged at the Theater an der Wien. It was not seen in Paris until 1900 when 60 performances were given at the Bouffes-Parisiens. Seven separate broadcast recordings were made by the French national broadcasting between 1945 and 1974. A revival (in a triple bill with M. Choufleuri restera chez lui le . . . and Mesdames de la Halle) was mounted at the Paris Opéra-Comique in 1979 (with revivals in 1980 and 1983) and recorded in the Salle Garnier, Monte Carlo in September 1982, conducted by Manuel Rosenthal. The piece was seen in Bologna and Jesi in 2010. Roles Synopsis Paris, 1873, a room in the house of Rabastens, with doors off As the curtain rises, the old bachelor and sewing-machine maker Rabastens dismisses his maidservant. He awaits a visit from Gustave, his nephew, whose liaison with a girl called Pomme d'api he views with disapproval, and has therefore cut off his allowance. When Gustave arrives, he admits that he has reluctantly submitted to his uncle's wishes, and broken off with Pomme d'api, despite the fact that instead of her angelic face, he will have to look at his uncle's every evening. He goes to his room. Next the new maid whom Rabastens has engaged via an agency - Catherine - comes in. Rabastens is pleased with her – so much so