The transformed cat
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The transformed cat |
| Original title: | La chat métamorphosée en femme |
| Shape: | opéra-bouffe |
| Original language: | French |
| Music: | Jacques Offenbach |
| Libretto : | Eugène Scribe and Mélèsville |
| Literary source: | Jean de La Fontaine |
| Premiere: | April 19, 1858 |
| Place of premiere: | Paris |
| Playing time: | about an hour |
| Place and time of the action: | (in the German version) Biberach in Oberschwaben around 1850 |
| people | |
The transformed cat (original title: "La chatte métamorphosée en femme") is a French operetta in one act by Jacques Offenbach based on a libretto by Eugène Scribe and Mélèsville. The work was premiered on April 19, 1858 in Offenbach's own Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens in Paris.
The part of the minette is for a virtuoso coloratura soprano .
orchestra
Two flutes (2nd also piccolo), an oboe, two clarinets, a bassoon, two horns, two cornets , a trombone, percussion and strings
action
Guido just couldn't handle the rich inheritance his father left him properly. He's always been a real dilettante when it comes to money. Now he is living a life of poverty. He used to have a lot of friends. But as it is: if the money dwindles, these dwindle too. All he has left are his old governess Marianne, his cousin Minette and their kitten, to whom he devotes all his love. Minette, on the other hand, has fallen in love with her cousin and would rather see him show her affection instead of the cat.
With the help of an Indian magician, Minette succeeds in slipping into the skin of the kitten that Guido loves so much and thus showing her cousin not only her purr, but also her claws. And as befits an operetta, success is not long in coming. Guido discovers his feelings of love for Minette, and in the end they both become a couple.
reception
This operetta was successful for a long time. Around 1880, Josef Hellmesberger junior created a ballet of the same name in three acts based on texts by F. Zell and Carl Telle . Ignaz Franz Castelli also translated this work under the title The Cat Transformed into a Woman .
literature
- Jacques Offenbach: The transformed cat. Operetta in one act . Bote & Bock, Berlin 1911 (translated by Adolf Winterfeld ).
- Josef Hellmesberger: The transformed cat. Weird-fantastic ballet in three acts (4 pictures) . New edition Künast, Vienna 1885.