Longjumeau

Longjumeau is the town an opera made famous. In 1836 Adolphe Adam — the composer of Giselle — set his sparkling opéra-comique "Le postillon de Lonjumeau" here, the tale of a coachman whose voice is too good for the mail route, and gave its hero an aria crowned by a ringing high D that tenors have used as a calling card ever since. The piece conquered the world's stages, and with it the name of a modest posting town on the Paris--Orléans road travelled further than any of its actual coaches: to this day, opera-goers from Vienna to New York can pronounce Longjumeau.

History had passed through before: the short-lived Peace of Longjumeau was signed here in 1568, one of the fragile truces of the Wars of Religion, remembered precisely because it did not hold. The town itself, on the little river Yvette, grew from coaching inns and tanneries into the southern suburbs of Paris, keeping its old bridge and church tower amid the Essonne's modern fabric.

The operatic destiny found a worthy home: the Théâtre de Longjumeau is one of the busiest stages of the southern Paris region, a large modern house whose seasons run from symphonic concerts and opera to dance and variety, drawing audiences from far beyond the commune. The postillon, in other words, still delivers — and the high D is now a municipal tradition.