![Jacques Offenbach by Nadar](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Jacques_Offenbach_by_Nadar.jpg)
''Les deux aveugles'' (, ''The Two Blind Men'' or ''The Blind Beggars'') is an 1855 one-act
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
''bouffonerie musicale'' (
operetta
Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...
) 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 '' ...
.
[Lamb 1992, p. 1143.] The
libretto
A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...
was written by
Jules Moinaux
Jules Moinaux, real name Joseph-Désiré Moineaux or Moineau"Moinaux or Moineau? The surname appears never to have been finally determined. Joseph-Désiré's father enrolled his son as Moineau but himself signed Moinaux. An uncle, born in 1826, is ...
and was a condensation of his 3-act ''Les musiciens ambulants''.
The half-hour long piece is a comic sketch about two (supposedly) blind beggars, consisting of an overture and four numbers. Offenbach was bold in making light of the disabled poor, but he believed that his patrons would see the humour of the piece. Most Parisians had been pestered by beggars on Parisian street corners, and Offenbach's blind beggars were con men, rather than deserving outcasts of society. The little piece was an instant hit, praised for its catchy dance tunes, and it soon spread Offenbach's name and music around the world.
Performance history
![Les deux aveugles 1855 vocal score cover by Loire - Gallica](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Les_deux_aveugles_1855_vocal_score_cover_by_Loire_-_Gallica.jpg)
''Les deux aveugles'' premiered on the opening night of the
Bouffes-Parisiens on 5 July 1855 at the company's first theatre, the tiny
Salle Lacaze
Salle is the French word for 'hall', 'room' or 'auditorium', as in:
*Salle des Concerts Herz, a former Paris concert hall
*Salle Favart, theatre of the Paris Opéra-Comique
*Salle Le Peletier, former home of the Paris Opéra
*Salle Pleyel, a Pari ...
on the
Champs-Elysées in Paris. It was the hit of the evening and was performed at the Salle Lacaze into the fall, making stars of the comedians who appeared in it. After Offenbach's new winter theatre, the Salle Choiseul, opened in December, the show continued to be presented there. It had become so successful, that
Louis-Napoléon
Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...
invited Offenbach's company to perform it for representatives to the
Congress of Paris
The Congress of Paris is the name for a series of diplomatic meetings held in 1856 in Paris, France, to negotiate peace between the warring powers in the Crimean War that had started almost three years earlier."Paris, Treaty of (1856)". The New E ...
in the Salon de Diane in the
Palace of the Tuileries on 28 February 1856. A revised version was presented in Paris at a matinee gala at the
Opéra-Comique
The Opéra-Comique is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief rival, the Comédie-Italienne ...
's second Salle Favart on 28 May 1858, with revivals on 6 November 1900,
[Wolff 1953, p. 58.] 14 December 1910,
[ and 12 December 1934.][
The piece was first seen in Berlin at ]Kroll
Kroll is a German, Anglo-Saxon, and Scottish surname.
Notable people with the surname include:
* Colin Kroll (1983/4–2018), American businessman; co-founder of Vine and HQ Trivia
* Eric Kroll (born 1946), American photographer
* Fredric Kr ...
's on 10 March 1856 and in Vienna 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 ...
on 19 April, where it played as part of a tour by the French actor Pierre Levassor from the Théâtre du Palais-Royal
The Théâtre du Palais-Royal () is a 750-seat Parisian theatre at 38 rue de Montpensier, located at the northwest corner of the Palais-Royal in the Galerie de Montpensier at its intersection with the Galerie de Beaujolais.
Brief history ...
.[Loewenberg 1978, columns 918–919.] The first work by Offenbach to be presented in Vienna, it strongly influenced the subsequent career of Karl Treumann
Matthias Karl Ludwig Treumann (27 July 1823 – 18 April 1877) was an Austrian actor, operetta singer (tenor), theatre director and writer.
Life
After an apprenticeship as a printer in his native Hamburg in 1841, he went to the in Pest, w ...
. On 27 June 1856 Levassor and his partner Jules Lefort
Jules Lefort (27 January 1822 – 7 September 1898), was a French lyrical singer of the Victorian era who in a career that spanned three decades regularly sang in the salons of wealthy and aristocratic patrons and in fashionable concert rooms ...
gave the first performance in London, a concert version at the Hanover Square Rooms
The Hanover Square Rooms or the Queen's Concert Rooms were assembly rooms established, principally for musical performances, on the corner of Hanover Square, London, by Sir John Gallini in partnership with Johann Christian Bach and Carl Friedric ...
,[Gänzl 2001, "Les deux aveugles" p. 501.] and it was also part of the opening night of the Bouffes-Parisiens' first London season in 1857, which ran at St James's Theatre
The St James's Theatre was in King Street, St James's, London. It opened in 1835 and was demolished in 1957. The theatre was conceived by and built for a popular singer, John Braham; it lost money and after three seasons he retired. A succ ...
from 20 May to 14 July.[ It was given in ]Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, (in French) on 21 November 1856,[ ]New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
at the Metropolitan Music Hall on 31 August 1857,[ ]Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the RÃo de la Plata, on South ...
on 13 October 1861, and Saigon
, population_density_km2 = 4,292
, population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2
, population_demonym = Saigonese
, blank_name = GRP (Nominal)
, blank_info = 2019
, blank1_name = – Total
, blank1_ ...
, the first opera ever performed there, in the autumn of 1864.[
''Les deux aveugles'' was translated into German by Carl Friedrich Wittmann as ''Zwei arme Blinde'' and was performed in Vienna at the on 26 May 1863][ and in Dresden on 19 November 1866.][ In English it played at London's ]Gallery of Illustration
The Royal Gallery of Illustration was a 19th-century performance venue located at 14 Regent Street in London. It was in use between 1850 and 1873.
The gallery was built in the 1820s by the architect John Nash (architect), John Nash as part of hi ...
as ''Beggar Thy Neighbour'' on 29 March 1870,[ at London's large Gaiety Theatre as ''A Mere Blind'' (translated by ]H. B. Farnie
Henry Brougham Farnie (8 April 1836 – 21 September 1889), often called H. B. Farnie, was a British librettist and adapter of French operettas and an author. Some of his English-language versions of operettas became record-setting hits on the ...
and starring Fred Sullivan
Frederic Sullivan ( – ) was an English people, English actor and singer. He is best remembered as the creator of the role of the Learned Judge in Gilbert and Sullivan's ''Trial by Jury'', providing a model for the comic roles in the later Sav ...
) on 15 April 1871, and by Harry Rickards
Harry Rickards (4 December 1843 – 13 October 1911),
born Henry Benjamin Leete, was an English-born baritone, comedian and theatre owner, most active in vaudeville and stage, first in his native England and then Australia after emigrating in 1 ...
' company at the School of Arts in Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, Australia, as ''The Blind Beggars'' on 9 September 1873.[ The ]Opéra de Monte Carlo
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 ...
performed it in French on 7 May 1902, and London's Ambassadors Theatre, on 11 May 1914 (also in French).[ It had clearly become one of Offenbach's most successful one-act works.
]Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best known for 14 comic opera, operatic Gilbert and Sullivan, collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including ''H.M.S. Pinaf ...
saw the piece at the amateur 'Moray Minstrels' group in London and was prompted to collaborate with FC Burnand on the first of his many operettas, ''Cox and Box
''Cox and Box; or, The Long-Lost Brothers'', is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by F. C. Burnand and music by Arthur Sullivan, based on the 1847 farce '' Box and Cox'' by John Maddison Morton. It was Sullivan's first successful comic o ...
'' (1866). In its use of the voice imitating a musical instrument and the combination together of separate melodies (though done previously by Sullivan), the Offenbach points towards features of the one-act Sullivan piece with which it shared an evening.
A complete performance of ''Les deux aveugles'' (followed by '' Croquefer, ou Le dernier des paladins'') forms part of the 1996 television film ''Offenbachs Geheimnis'', directed by István Szabó
István Szabó (; born 18 February 1938) is a Hungarian film director, screenwriter, and opera director.
Szabó is one of the most notable Hungarian filmmakers and one who has been best known outside the Hungarian-speaking world since the la ...
.
The work was presented by Palazzetto Bru Zane on a double bill with ''Le compositeur toqué'' by Hervé
Hervé is a French language, French masculine given name of Breton language, Breton origin, from the name of the 6th-century Breton Saint Hervé. The common latinization of the name is Herveus (also ''Haerveus''), an early (8th-century) latinizati ...
at the Théâtre Marigny
The Théâtre Marigny is a theatre in Paris, situated near the junction of the Champs-Élysées and the Avenue Marigny in the 8th arrondissement.
It was originally built to designs of the architect Charles Garnier for the display of a panoram ...
, Paris, for a series of performances beginning in January 2019.
Subsequent works
With ''Les deux aveugles'' Offenbach became the darling of Second Empire Second Empire may refer to:
* Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783
* Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396)
* Second French Empire (1852–1870)
** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...
Paris. His later pieces would continue to mock customs of the day, without really upsetting the status quo
is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, political, religious or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the current state of social structure and/or values. W ...
enjoyed by the theatre-going public. Offenbach's early operettas were small-scale one-act works, since the law in France limited musical theatre works (at all except the principal theatres) to one-act pieces with no more than three singers and, perhaps, some mute characters. Background on Offenbach on musicals101.com/operetta
Retrieved 20 August 2012
In 1858, this law was changed, and Offenbach was able to offer full-length works, beginning with ''Orpheus in the Underworld
''Orpheus in the Underworld'' and ''Orpheus in Hell'' are English names for (), a comic opera with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy. It was first performed as a two-act " opéra bouffon" at the Théà ...
''.
Roles
Synopsis
:Time: 19th century
:Place: Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
Two "blind" beggars compete for the best position on a bridge, first in a musical battle with Patachon playing on a trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...
and Giraffier a mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
, then in a game of cards, in which they cheat and betray their pretense of blindness. 'Business' has not been brisk. When passers-by drop coins, the beggars are able to see well enough to retrieve them. To impress each other, they fabricate wild stories, accompanied by singing. The contest becomes comically grotesque.
Music
The music consists of an overture and four short numbers, of which the bolero, a duet which begins "La lune brille, le ciel scintille" ("The moon beams, the sky sparkles"), is probably the standout.[
]
References
Notes
Sources
* Gänzl, Kurt (2001). ''The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre'', second edition. New York: Schirmer Books. .
* Harding, James (1980). ''Jacques Offenbach: A Biography''. London: John Calder, 1980 ; Flemington, NJ: Riverrun Press, 1980.
* Lamb, Andrew (1992). "''Les deux aveugles''" in Sadie 1992, vol. 1, p. 1143.
* Letellier, Robert Ignatius
Robert Ignatius Letellier (born 1953, in Durban, South Africa) is a cultural historian and academic, specialising in the history of music, Romantic literature and the Bible. He teaches at the Maryvale Institute and the Institute of Continuing Educ ...
(2010). ''Opéra-Comique: A Sourcebook''. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars. .
* Loewenberg, Alfred (1978). ''Annals of Opera 1597–1940'' (third edition, revised). Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman and Littlefield. .
* Sadie, Stanley
Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was publ ...
, editor (1992). ''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 ...
'' (4 volumes). London: Macmillan. .
* Teneo, Martial (1920)
"Jacques Offenbach : His Centenary"
translated by Theodore Baker
Theodore Baker (June 3, 1851"Passed Away," ''Musical America'' (Nov. 10, 1934), p. 32."Dr. Theodore Baker," ''Musical Courier'' (Nov. 3, 1934), p. 20. – October 12, 1934)[The Musical Quarterly
''The Musical Quarterly'' is the oldest academic journal on music in America. Originally established in 1915 by Oscar Sonneck, the journal was edited by Sonneck until his death in 1928. Sonneck was succeeded by a number of editors, including Car ...]
'', vol. 6, no. 1 (January 1920), pp. 98–117.
* Wild, Nicole
Nicole Wild (20 June 1929 – 29 December 2017) was a French musicologist, chief curator at the Paris Opera Library and Museum, and a specialist in the history and iconography of opera in France in the 19th century.
Early life and education
Bor ...
; Charlton, David (2005). ''Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique Paris: répertoire 1762-1972''. Sprimont, Belgium: Editions Mardaga. .
* Wolff, Stéphane (1953). ''Un demi-siècle d'Opéra-Comique (1900-1950).'' Paris: André Bonne.
* Yon, Jean-Claude (2000). ''Jacques Offenbach''. aris Aris or ARIS may refer to:
People
* Aris (surname)
Given name
* Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer
* Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player
* Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano
* Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter
* Aris Howard, Former President of the Jama ...
Galimard. .
External links
Recordings may be found on operadis-opera-discography.org.uk
Libretto as submitted for censorship, Paris 1855
*
*
Boosey and Hawkes website information, accessed 25 May 2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deux aveugles, Les
Operas by Jacques Offenbach
French-language operas
Operas
One-act operas
1855 operas