About the work
Die Verlobung bei der Laterne (Le mariage aux lanternes) is a one-act opérette-bouffe by Jacques Offenbach, with an original libretto by Michel Carré and Léon Battu. It premiered on 10 October 1857 at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens (Salle Choiseul) in Paris.
Plot
The young farmer Peter is guardian to his cousin Liese, whom he secretly loves but cannot bring himself to tell her so. His uncle sends the two of them anonymous letters summoning each to an oak tree at dusk; there they meet, clear up the misunderstanding and seal their engagement with a kiss by the light of the night watchman's lantern.
Cultural significance
This roughly forty-minute early work is one of Offenbach's more modest one-act pieces for a small cast; as late as 1962 it was staged at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf under the young conductor Carlos Kleiber.