Jacques Offenbach

La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein Vol. 1

After the extraordinary successes of La belle Hélène (1864) and La Vie Parisienne (1866), the triumvirate Offenbach/Meilhac/Halévy reached the zenith of its fame in 1867 with its Grand Duchesse de Gérolstein - but only after drastic deletions and revisions. No other Offenbachiade suffered so greatly from cuts made in order to accommodate the popular taste of the time. As a result, the grand romantic opéra-bouffe full of abysses and double entendres mutated into the military parody as which it was known until the rediscovery in 2004 of the original version at the Parisian Théâtre du Châlet with the Musiciens du Louvre under the baton of Marc Minkowski, and Felicity Lott in the title role. The 'original' La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein, as initially conceived by Offenbach and his librettists, was published in its entirety for the first time within the framework of the critical-practical Offenbach Edition OEK, and is also now available, after having stood the test in numerous stage productions, in a printed piano score. It documents not only the version of the autograph score, but additionally also the versions made by Offenbach for the subsequent premieres in Vienna and Berlin, with all the alterations in terms of form and music. All four relevant libretto versions are documented in the appendix.