Credit: Artist with an illegible signature (possibly Paul Gavarni); restored by Adam Cuerden
Title page to an early vocal score of L'éclair (The Lightning Flash), an opéra comique in 3 acts by Fromental Halévy which was premièred by the Paris Opéra-Comique on 16 December 1835. It recounts the amours of the Englishman George and the American Lyonel for two sisters, Henriette and the widow Mme. Darbel, who are rather indecisive about who they should pair up with at the start. This indecisiveness is complicated further by the temporary blindness suffered by Lyonel when he is struck by lightning during a thunderstorm. The opera was well received which placed Halévy in the unusual position of having two simultaneous successes on the Paris stage (the other being his grand opera masterpiece, La Juive).