Day 138
Hervé Mam'zelle Nitouche (extract)
Today was a very busy day so only had time for the briefest of listening.
Hervé, whose real name was the rather splendid Louis-Auguste Florimond Ronger, was with Offenbach one of the founders of French Operetta. The two men collaborated for a while and then fell out, before reconciling shortly before Offenbach's death.
I had time to listen to the overture and one duet. The overture is a typical no-nonsense 'here are all the tunes' piece which one can imagine being played by a small orchestra on the local bandstand. The duet was rather more fun with a lot of comic business which worked well even without being able to see what was happening. I'll try to listen to the whole piece when I have an opportunity.
As an appendix I also listened to a tiny waltz by Hervé from his curiously named ballet Sports in England. The title is Mal de Mer (see sickness) and as the expression has it it does what it says on the tin. It is delightfully queasy!
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