The opera ball

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Work data
Title: The opera ball
Original title: The opera ball
Shape: operetta
Original language: German
Music: Richard Heuberger
Libretto : Victor Léon and Heinrich von Waldberg (1862–1929)
Literary source: Comedy Die Rosa-Dominos by Alfred-Charlemagne Delacour and Alfred Hennequin
Premiere: January 5, 1898
Place of premiere: Theater an der Wien
Place and time of the action: In Paris during the Carnival
people
  • Theophil Beaubuisson, Reindeer ( bass )
  • Madame Palmyra Beaubuisson, his wife ( old )
  • Henri, marine cadet, her nephew ( tenor or mezzo-soprano )
  • Paul Aubier (tenor)
  • Angèle, his wife and Madame Beaubuisson's niece ( soprano )
  • Georges Duménil (tenor buffo)
  • Marguérite Duménil, his wife (soprano)
  • Hortense, maid at Duménil's (Soubrette)
  • Féodora, a chansonnière (soprano)
  • Philippe, head waiter in the opera foyer (tenor)
  • Jean, a waiter
  • Germain, a servant
  • Chor ( Choir )

The Opera Ball is a Viennese operetta in three acts by Richard Heuberger after the comedy The Pink Dominos by Alfred Delacour Charlemagne and Alfred Hennequin from 1876. The libretto wrote Victor Léon and Heinrich von Waldberg. It premiered on January 5, 1898 in the Theater an der Wien .

action

1st act

In Paris during the Carnival, Paul Aubier and his wife Angèle visit Georges and Marguérite Duménil. Marguérite, who is skeptical about fidelity, persuades the gullible Angèle to put the two husbands to the test. The chambermaid Hortense wrote two letters of the same name on her behalf, inviting Paul and Georges to a rendezvous with a noble lady at the evening opera ball. Their mark is a pink domino . Hortense secretly writes a third letter to Henri, because she herself also wants to appear as a pink domino.

2nd act

In the crowd of masks at the opera ball, everyone involved gradually reappear. The old Beaubuisson is accompanied by the singer Féodara, Henri finds the pink dominoes he is looking for in Hortense, Georges in Angèle, Paul in Marguérite. In the booths, Georges and Paul hope to get their money's worth, but the ladies have agreed with the waiters that the bell should ring, so that the stormy lovers will be complimented with a pretext. It then happens, and the disappointed Paul and Georges are even more surprised when they meet here.

Confusion builds when both Georges and Paul believe they recognize their respective pink dominoes in Hortense. While kissing, Georges accidentally scorches her domino with his cigarette, and Paul overzealously tears her coat. Marguérite and Angèle, who know nothing of Hortense's presence, suspect each other to be in the courtship. After all, the gentlemen stay among themselves without any pink dominoes.

3rd act

Back home, Georges accidentally discovers the stationery on which the invitation to the opera ball was written and sees through the women's ruse. There are violent mutual accusations, at the height of which Georges and Paul want to duel. Finally the two wives can prove by their intact domino costumes that they haven't gone too far. Instead, the third letter of invitation is known through Henri and Hortense is exposed as the author.

effect

The operetta Der Opernball was Richard Heuberger's only major musical success. The waltz duet Come with me to the Chambre séparée became particularly popular .

The operetta was filmed several times:

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