La Rondine (1996)

A salon in Magda’s house in Paris, afternoon.

Magda is entertaining friends in the house that her rich lover, Rambaldo, has bought her. Among them is the poet Prunier, who comments that romantic love is becoming fashionable again. The other guests mock him, including Magda’s maid Lisette, who has aspirations to be an actress. Magda is more sympathetic. She persuades Prunier to sing a ballad he has written and completes the story for him with a rapturous dream of love.

Lisette interrupts: a young man wants to see Rambaldo and refuses to be put off. Meanwhile, Magda describes her first love affair. Prunier offers to read her palm. Lisette reappears with Ruggero, who is in Paris for the first time and brings a letter of introduction to Rambaldo from his father. Prunier predicts that Magda will find love again and, like the swallow, fly away to a land of dreams and sunlight.

Rambaldo asks for advice on where Ruggero should spend his first evening in Paris. Various places are suggested, but Lisette interjects: he must go to Bullier’s. The guests leave. Lisette reminds her mistress that it is her night off, and Magda retires. Lisette reappears dressed in her mistress’s clothes and embraces Prunier, who has waited for her. They leave together, before Magda reappears dressed as a grisette. Confident that no one will recognize her, she goes out.

At Bullier’s

Ruggero is sitting alone, ignoring the grisettes and flower-girls trying to attract his attention.

Magda enters hesitantly and finds herself surrounded by young men. To throw them off, she asks them to take her to Ruggero’s table. She is embarrassed, but Ruggero, who does not recognize her, begs her to stay, saying that she reminds him of the modest girls he knows at home. Lisette and Prunier arrive.

Ruggero declares that he loves Magda, although he does not know her name. She introduces herself as “Paulette” but will not tell him anything more about herself. Their rapture attracts the attention of the crowd, among them Lisette, who recognizes her mistress, but Prunier persuades her that she is mistaken. They join Ruggero and “Paulette.”

Lisette, convinced by Prunier, remains unaware of Magda’s identity, to her mistress’s amusement. Magda is also amused by Prunier’s choice of companion. The two couples joyfully drink a toast to love.

Prunier warns Magda that Rambaldo has entered the ballroom. He quickly invents an excuse to get Lisette and Ruggero out of the way. Rambaldo invites Magda to leave with him. She refuses, and he leaves her, expressing the hope that she will not regret her decision. Ruggero returns and finds Magda distraught; he comforts her and they leave together.

The terrace of a villa on the Riviera, several months later.

Magda and Ruggero have left Paris. They are happy, enjoying their solitude away from the fashionable world.
Three vendeuses from a local fashion house bring samples and sketches of the latest fashions to show Magda, but she and Ruggero are running out of money and send the women away.

Ruggero confesses that he has asked his parents’ consent for his marriage to Magda, of whose past he is still ignorant. Magda is moved by his ecstatic vision of their life together. Left alone, she wonders sadly if she should tell him about her past.

Lisette and Prunier arrive. Lisette has had a disastrous stage debut in Nice and wants to return to her former position as Magda’s maid. Magda is delighted to see her.

Prunier hints that Magda’s life with Ruggero is as illusory as Lisette’s dreams of the stage and that Rambaldo too would welcome Magda back to her old life, but Magda will not listen.

Left alone, Magda is shocked when Rambaldo arrives and asks her to come back to him. Magda retorts that she is happy and will not leave Ruggero.

When Ruggero comes out, Magda’s joy turns to horror as he rejects her angrily. He has received a letter telling him that she is Rambaldo’s mistress. In a fury, he accuses her of falseness. Magda pleads that her love, if not her past, is true and pure, but he refuses to listen. She begs for pity, but he bids her farewell forever. Like the swallow, she must fly home again.

(Adapted with permission from Opera North)