About the work
Die Rheinnixen (original title Les fées du Rhin) is a four-act romantic opera by Jacques Offenbach, based on a French libretto by Charles Nuitter that Alfred von Wolzogen translated into German for the premiere. The 4 February 1864 opening at the Vienna Court Opera (Kärntnertortheater) had to be given in cut form, missing roughly an hour of music, after tenor Alois Ander fell ill.
Plot
Set on the Rhine in 1522 during the Knights' Revolt, the plot follows Armgard, threatened by mercenaries under Konrad von Wenckheim, while her childhood friend, the amnesiac mercenary captain Franz Baldung, fails to recognise her. Supernatural fairy forces intervene and steer events toward a resolution that overcomes war and loss.
Cultural significance
Offenbach later reused two of the opera's melodies, a drinking song and a fairy chorus, for the Barcarolle and other passages in 'The Tales of Hoffmann'. Offenbach scholar Jean-Christophe Keck presented both the German stage version and Offenbach's original French version in a critical complete edition.