About the work
Das Nusch-Nuschi is Paul Hindemith's one-act 'play for Burmese marionettes' after a 1904 farce by Franz Blei. Hindemith composed the work in 1919/20; it premiered on 4 June 1921 at the Württemberg State Theatre in Stuttgart, on the same bill and under the same conductor, Fritz Busch, as Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen, with sets and choreography by Oskar Schlemmer.
Plot
In the realm of the fictional Burmese emperor Mung Tha Bya, the servant Tum tum abducts all four of the emperor's wives on the orders of his master Zatwai. When the deed is discovered, Tum tum shifts the blame onto the general Kyce Waing — until it emerges, to general relief, that Kyce Waing had long since been castrated and is therefore innocent.
Cultural significance
Blei's farce parodies commedia dell'arte and openly alludes to Schnitzler's Reigen and Wagner's Tristan; its premiere caused a theatre scandal in Stuttgart over its risqué allusions.