''Le 66'' is an

opérette This is a glossary list of opera genres, giving alternative names. "Opera" is an Italian word (short for "opera in musica"); it was not at first ''commonly'' used in Italy (or in other countries) to refer to the genre of particular works. Most c ...

in one act of 1856 with music by

Jacques Offenbach Jacques Offenbach (, also , , ; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario of the Romantic period. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera '' ...

. The French libretto was by

Auguste Pittaud de Forges Auguste Pittaud de Forges (5 April 1803 (15 germinal an XI) – 28 September 1881,) was a 19th-century French playwright. Biography His full name was Philippe-Auguste-Alfred Pittaud. He began his literary career under the pseudonyms Deforges, ...

and

Laurencin Laurencin, real name Paul-Aimé Chapelle, (10 January 1806 - 9 December 1890) was a French playwright and librettist. He authored numerous theatre plays, vaudevilles and operettas, most of them in collaboration. '' Le 66'' and '' Monsieur et ...

( Paul Aimé Chapelle). Lamb A., "Jacques Offenbach (List of stage works)" in: ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volu ...

''. Macmillan, London and New York, 1997.

Kurt Gänzl Kurt-Friedrich Gänzl (born 15 February 1946) is a New Zealand writer, historian and former casting director and singer best known for his books about musical theatre. After a decade-long playwriting, acting and singing career, and a second ca ...

describes the work as "in the rustic vein of ''

Le violoneux ''Le violoneux'' is a one-act operetta (« légende bretonne » - Breton legend) by Jacques Offenbach to a French libretto by Eugène Mestépès and Émile Chevalet, first performed in 1855. Performance history The triumphant premiere was at the ...

'' and '' Le mariage aux lanternes''". Gänzl K., "''Le 66''" in: ''The Encyclopaedia of the Musical Theatre.'' Blackwell, Oxford, 1994.

Performance history

The premiere was at the

Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens The Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens () is a Parisian theatre founded in 1855 by the composer Jacques Offenbach for the performance of opéra bouffe and operetta. The current theatre is located in the 2nd arrondissement at 4 rue Monsigny with an ...

(Salle Lacaze) Paris, on 31 July 1856, one of nine one-acters produced by the Bouffes Parisiens that year. ''Le 66'' remained in the Bouffes Parisiens répertoire, and was played by them in Vienna in 1862. It had already been seen at the

Carltheater The Carltheater was a theatre in Vienna. It was in the suburbs in Leopoldstadt at Praterstraße 31 (at that time called Jägerzeile). It was the successor to the Leopoldstädter Theater. After a series of financial difficulties, that theater had ...

in that city in 1859, was produced in Budapest in 1860, and mounted in London in 1865 and 1876. It was revived in Paris in 1984 at the Studio Bertrand alongside '' Pépito''. Contemporary critics particularly admired in the score the romance and tyrolienne and the entry song of the colporteur. In 2019, ''Le 66'' was performed in a triple bill (with

Samuel Barber Samuel Osmond Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was an American composer, pianist, conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century. The music critic Donal Henahan said, "Proba ...

's ''

A Hand of Bridge ''A Hand of Bridge'', opus 35, is an opera in one act composed by Samuel Barber with libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti, and is possibly the shortest opera that is regularly performed: it lasts about nine minutes. It premiered as a part of Menotti' ...

'' and Peter Reynolds' '' Sands of Time'') at the

Grimeborn Grimeborn is an annual East London musical theatre and opera festival which coincides with the world famous East Sussex Glyndebourne Opera Festival. Founded by Arcola Theatre’s artistic director Mehmet Ergen in 2007, the festival is held at A ...

Festival, Dalston, London.

Roles

Synopsis

En route for Strasbourg two starving travellers reach the outskirts of Stuttgart. Grittly has learnt that her sister is in great distress and set off to see her; Frantz has gone with her. On meeting a pedlar on the road Frantz wins 100,000 florins in a lottery with the ticket 66. He borrows money from the pedlar and goes off to the town on a spending spree, returning in expensive grotesque clothes. Grittly and he argue – and then discover that the ticket is actually 99. However, the pedlar turns out to be a rich long-lost relation (and husband of Grittly's sister) who wanted to give Frantz a lesson in the dangers of extravagance.. ''Jacques Offenbach.'' Éditions Gallimard, Paris, 2000.

Musical numbers

* Introduction with offstage duo * Romance « En apprenant cette détresse » and Tyrolienne « Dans mon Tyrol » * Air « Voilà le colporteur » * Trio « Et maintenant lisez-nous ça » * Couplets « C’était la compagne fidèle » * Couplets « Cocasse ? moi » * Trio « O ciel ! ô ciel ! » * Final « Ah ! quel bonheur »

References

External links

Original livret de censure of July 1856, accessed 27 July 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:66 Operas by Jacques Offenbach French-language operas Opérettes One-act operas 1856 operas Operas Operas set in Germany