Les brigands
Les brigands ("The Bandits") is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, by Jacques Offenbach to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. Meilhac and Halévy's libretto lampoons both serious drama (Schiller's play "The Robbers") and opéra comique ("Fra Diavolo" and "Les diamants de la couronne" by Auber). The plot is cheerfully amoral in its presentation of theft as a basic principle of society rather than as an aberration. As Falsacappa, the brigand chieftain, notes: "Everybody steals according to their position in society." The piece premiered in Paris in 1869 and has received periodic revivals in France and elsewhere, both in French and in translation.

"Les brigands" has a more substantial plot than many Offenbach operettas and integrates the songs more completely into the story. The forces of law and order are represented by the bumbling carabinieri, whose exaggerated attire delighted the Parisian audience during the premiere. In addition to policemen, financiers receive satiric treatment. The satire counterpoints lively musical romps and the frequent use of Italian and Spanish rhythms; "Soyez pitoyables" is a true canon, and each act finale is a well-developed whole. A 1983 "New York Times" article theorized that the music of the piece influenced Bizet in writing "Carmen" and noted that the librettists for this work supplied Bizet's libretto, but standard Offenbach references do not mention any such influence.
Q3084465
opéra bouffe
Concept
Q170384
operetta
Concept
Q41555
Jacques Offenbach
PER
Q131084
libretto
Concept
Q723648
Henri Meilhac
PER
Q723585
Ludovic Halévy
PER
Q22670
Schiller
PER
Q466333
The Robbers
ORG
Q785479
opéra comique
Concept
Q1440309
Fra Diavolo
MEDIA
Q467897
Les diamants de la couronne
MEDIA
Q157672
Auber
PER
Q54852
carabinieri
ORG
Q53831
canon
Concept
Q9684
New York Times
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Q56158
Bizet
PER
Q185968
Carmen
MEDIA
Q763758
Les brigands
MEDIA
Q763758
Les brigands
MEDIA
1869-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1869
DATE
1983-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1983
DATE
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