About the work
Die Nürnberger Puppe (La poupée de Nuremberg) is a one-act opéra comique by Adolphe Adam, with a libretto by Adolphe de Leuven and Arthur de Beauplan, loosely based on E.T.A. Hoffmann's tale Der Sandmann. It premiered on 21 February 1852 at the Théâtre-Lyrique in Paris, where it was performed nearly a hundred times over the following eighteen years.
Plot
The Nuremberg toy-maker Cornelius spoils his simple-minded son Donathan, while treating his orphaned nephew Miller, whose inheritance he has withheld, like a servant. Unable to find a perfect bride for Donathan, Cornelius has a doll built and tries to bring it to life with the help of a magic book; a young woman poses as the animated doll and throws the deception into confusion.
Cultural significance
As one of the earliest stage adaptations of the Sandman story, the opera anticipates motifs that later recur in Delibes' ballet Coppélia and Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann; Hector Berlioz mockingly described the score as "a whole fairground of waltzes and galops".