Les cadeaux de Noël
opera by Xavier Leroux
Les cadeaux de Noël (The Christmas Gifts) is an opera in one act composed by Xavier Leroux to a French-language libretto by Émile Fabre. Described as a conte héroïque (heroic tale), it was premiered by the Opéra-Comique at the Salle Favart Theatre in Paris on Christmas Day 1915. Its story of four children, whose parents had been killed by German soldiers but who nevertheless found hope in a seemingly bleak Christmas, had a particular resonance with French audiences in the midst of World War I. The opera was a great success in Paris, and subsequently performed in Italy, Monte Carlo and Latin America.
Background and performance history
The Opéra-Comique, one of France's most prosperous opera companies, was hard hit by the outbreak of World War I in the summer of 1914. By October, 127 of its musicians, singers, and staff had been mobilized to the Western Front. The threat to Paris by the advancing German army had also led to the closure of the city's theatres until December 1914, when the theatres were allowed to re-open for matinee performances. In the meantime, the company's conductor-in-chief, Paul Vidal, and the other directors had managed to reorganize and stabilize the company. In 1915, in addition to revivals of past successes, several new works were presented (often with a military or patriotic theme), including Les cadeaux de Noël. Its composer, Xavier Leroux, was well known on the Paris stages for his operas and theatre music. Three of his operas, La reine Fiammette (1903), Le chemineau (1907) and Le carillonneur (1913) had premiered at the Opéra-Comique.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 24, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q15410861. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1915, 1914, 1903 and 1907.
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This entry incorporates text from “Les cadeaux de Noël” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.