Lischen et Fritzchen is a one-act operetta

Operetta

Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...

 (« conversation alsacienne » - Alsatian conversation) with music by Jacques Offenbach

Jacques Offenbach

Jacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....

 to a French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 by ‘P Dubois’ (Paul Boisselot), first performed in 1863.

Performance history

The premiere was on 21 July 1863 at the Kursaal, Bad Ems, during a successful summer season for the composer. The Paris premiere followed at the newly-refurbished Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens

Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens

The Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens is a Parisian theatre which was founded in 1855 by the composer Jacques Offenbach for the performance of opéra bouffe and operetta. The current theatre is located in the 2nd arrondissement at 4 rue Monsigny with an entrance at the back at 65 Passage Choiseul. In...

, Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, on 5 January 1864, sharing the bill with Les deux aveugles

Les deux aveugles

Les deux aveugles is a one-act bouffonerie musicale, in the style of an operetta, by Jacques Offenbach to a French libretto by Jules Moinaux...

, L'amour chanteur and La tradition. Both characters in the piece use an Alsatian accent in their dialogue and songs. It marked one of the early hits for Zulma Bouffar.

A story that Offenbach had composed the piece in eight days to win a bet may only be a myth.

Offenbach set the fable of the The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse (to different music) in his Six Fables de La Fontaine (1842).

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast, 21 July 1863 (Conductor: )	Paris premiere cast, 5 January 1864 (Conductor:)
Lischen	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Zulma Bouffar Zulma Bouffar Zulma Madeleine Boufflar, known as Zulma Bouffar, born Nérac 24 May 1841, died Couilly-Pont-aux-Dames 20 January 1909, was a French actress and soprano singer, associated with the opéra-bouffe of Paris in the second half of the 19th century who enjoyed a successful career around Europe.-Life and...	Zulma Bouffar
Fritzchen	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...	Jean-Paul	Desiré Désiré (baritone) Désiré was a French baritone, who is particularly remembered for creating many comic roles in the works of the French operetta composer Jacques Offenbach...

Synopsis

A crossroads; a wine merchant’s house on the left with a seat outside, on the right a stone bench

Fritzchen, an Alsatian servant, sacked because he presented his master’s lady with a beer (une bière) rather than a jewel (une pierre) rests by the roadside on his way back to Alsace.
Lischen enters, also returning homeward as she cannot make any money in Paris for herself and her old father as a broom-seller.
Fritzchen falls for the young Alsacienne, as they both plan to continue their journey.
Lischen sings the story of the The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse

The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse

"The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse" is one of Aesop's Fables. It is number 352 in the Perry Index and type 112 in Aarne-Thompson's folk tale index. Like several other elements in Aesop's fables, 'town mouse and country mouse' has become an English idiom....

, which she had sung in Paris to make up the shortfall in selling brooms.
Adversity draws the two together, and during a conversation in which they admit their mutual love, it seems that they are brother and sister.
However, in a letter from Fritzchen’s father it emerges that Lischen was an illegitimate daughter of his sister and therefore he was only her uncle. Now that a marriage between Lischen and Fritzchen is possible, in joy the couple join arms and continue their way home.

Musical numbers

• Overture
• Couplets « Me chasser, me forcer »
• Chanson « P’tits balais, p’tits balais »
• Duo « Je suis alsacienne, je suis alsacien »
• Fable « Un jour un rat de ville invita le rat des champs »
• Final et duo « Quoi ! Fritzchen »