Here, the most Parisian of German composers signs one of his most grandiose works, in which humor and irony conjure up a caustic image of Second Empire society, which loved to laugh at everything, including itself. Everything from arranged marriages going off the rails, to eternal seducers on the lookout for the slightest romantic fling, all in the jubilation of misunderstandings and other comic situations.
In this firework display of repartee by the two talented librettists Meilhac and...