About the work
Die Teeblume (original French title Fleur-de-Thé) is an opéra bouffe in three acts by Charles Lecocq, with a libretto by Henri Chivot and Alfred Duru. It premiered on 11 April 1868 at the Théâtre de l'Athénée in Paris and became Lecocq's first substantial stage success, running for an entire season.
Plot
In a Chinese port town around 1860, Teeblume, daughter of the Mandarin Fa-Sching, slips out of her father's palace out of curiosity, defying an imperial law that forbids women to leave the house. She is found in the harbour tavern of the former ship's cook Pastinak, whom the law obliges to marry her – a match the Mandarin forces through against Teeblume's wishes, even though she loves the naval officer Sching-Yong. At the wedding, Pastinak's jealous wife Portiunka secretly swaps places with Teeblume; when the ruse is discovered, the supposed groom faces execution until Sching-Yong alerts the sailors of HMS Medusa and has him rescued.
Cultural significance
As Lecocq's first major stage hit, the work is regarded as the launching point for his later operettas such as "Giroflé-Girofla" and "La fille de Madame Angot," and it is listed in reference works including Leo Melitz's "Führer durch die Operetten" and "The Oxford Dictionary of Opera."