Nice recording, good singing, but slightly disappointed with Aler's non-hornlike oh-oh-oh in the famous titular aria. Is it only Germans who can do this (out of their alleged obsession with hunting horns)? This opera has been extremely popular in Germany, anyway. Maybe he needs to take a cue from Roberta Peters whose clear, high blasts as Queen of the Night could easily be mistaken as coming from a brass instrument. I also couldn't quite tell the difference between Madeleine and Mme. LaTour, but I was listening in the car on a Corolla standard system and watching for traffic at the time. I did play it twice trying to hear that ... and also to figure out why the chorus kept singing about a hat - which turned out to be "chateau" instead. So much for my French.
Silly story, of course, just the sort of thing SOME people complain about in opera (see Terry Pratchett's Maskerade). Just as they've gotten married and before they have a chance to consummate, Chapelou is lured away to Paris to be a rich and famous singer while Madeleine, who gave up the chance a life of luxury with a rich aunt to marry the man she loves, sadly decides to live with the aunt anyway and bide her time. In the next act, 10 years later, thanks to the economy of theatre, everyone from Act I is back, but all of them renamed, save the Marquis who heads the Paris Opera. We'll stick to their first act names for the sake of simplicity. Chapelou has seen Madeleine, now heir to her aunt's fortune, in the audience and fallen in love - not realizing it actually is his wife. To avenge her abandonment, Madeleine allows Chapelou to seduce her when the Marquis invites the whole opera company to her hat - no wait - house for a party. Chapelou plans a fake marriage which is undermined by Madeleine by substituting a real priest for the actor intended. The Marquis is delighted, knowing Chapelou has committed bigamy, which is punishable by hanging, and will get him out of the Marquis's way of romancing Madeleine (whom he hasn't recognized either). Act III is Madeleine taunting Chapelou as both her peasant and her wealthy selves at the same time ... in the dark, of course, and the Marquis threatening him with the hanging thing. Madeleine, fortunately for Chapelou, makes the case that there's nothing unlawful about marrying the same woman twice and they all sing the titular tune again, unrealistically happy.