La belle Hélène

Composer: OFFENBACH, Jacques
  • La belle Hélène (The Fair Helen) premiered on Dec. 17, 1864.1
  • Story: La belle Hélène is a satirical adaptation of the classical myths regarding Helen of Troy. It is also a thinly veiled sendup of contemporary society in Offenbach’s France.2
  • This operetta followed on the success of Offenbach’s earlier satirical mythology operetta, Orpheus in the Underworld (1858).3

Sources

  1. Andrew Lamb, “Offenbach, Jacques,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed December 10, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000020271. 
  2. Andrew Lamb, “Belle Hélène, La,” Grove Music Online (2002), accessed December 10, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-5000900736. 
  3. Ibid.

Cut IDs

40544