Le mariage aux lanternes

( in the German version )

  • Liese ( mezzo-soprano)
  • Their cousin Peter, a tenant (Tenor)
  • Anne Marie, a widowed farmer's wife (soprano )
  • Catharine, another widowed farmer's wife (mezzo- soprano)
  • A night watchman (voice)
  • Peasant people

The engagement with the lantern ( in the original: Le Mariage aux Lanternes ) is a French operetta in one act by Jacques Offenbach to a libretto by Michel Carré and Léon Battu. First performance was in Offenbach's own small theater Bouffes in Paris on 10 October 1857.

Orchestra

Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, a trombone, percussion and strings

Action

That his uncle has left him determined to be the guardian of his orphaned cousin Henry, makes the young farmer Peter not happy; for he is head over heels in it. As guardian, he does not dare to confess his love to her. The responsibility rests so heavily upon him that he was facing Liese, without meaning to, often strikes a rather harsh tone. Liese again feels for her guardian also more than just sympathy, but also it does not dare to show him this.

Actually, the uncle his nephew only therefore used as guardian because has not escaped him what sense the two fit together. He had hoped that in this way it would all become the best. But the fact that his plan has exactly the opposite effect, does not make him happy. So he decides to play fate.

Peter receives a letter. The unknown sender tells him that he would find a great treasure when he einfinde to the big oak tree that once the church bell einläute the evening. Quickly spread in the village the rumor that the young farmer standing before a rich inheritance. The two farmers Anne Marie and Catherine, both widowed young, get wind of it. Each tries to more or less audacious Peter to wrap around the finger. Only with difficulty that he can escape them.

As the evening bell rings out, Peter comes to a large oak tree. To his amazement, there has also his cousin Liese gathered; for they also had been ordered by an unknown letter here to also find a treasure. The two young people understand the twist of fate. When the night watchman comes, they give themselves the light of his lantern, the engagement kiss.

  • Operetta of the 19th century
  • Work of Jacques Offenbach
  • Operetta by Title
  • Music 1857
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