La bonne d'enfant

"La bonne d'enfant" ("The Nanny") is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, in one act by Jacques Offenbach to a French libretto by Eugène Bercioux.

It was first performed at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens, Paris on 14 October 1856. Offenbach's early operettas were small-scale one-act works, since the law in France limited musical theatre works (other than grand opera) to one-act pieces with no more than three singers and, perhaps, some mute characters. [http://www.musicals101.com/operetta.htm] In 1858, this law was changed, and Offenbach was able to offer full-length operettas, beginning with "Orpheus in the Underworld".

Roles

ynopsis

Dorothée is tired of being a nanny and wants to marry to become the mistress of her own house. She has two suitors: Mitouflard, the fireman and Farfouilla, the chimneysweep. During an evening when her employers are out of the house, both gentlemen try to convince her to marry them, which leads to a number of comic situations. She ends up deciding to marry the trumpeter of the Royal Dragoons, but tells her suitors that she will invite them to her wedding.

References

* [http://www.boosey.com/downloads/BonnedEnfant.pdf The libretto in French as submitted to the French Censors before the première]
* [http://offenbach.free.fr/article.php3?id_article=105 Information about the première date and location]