About the work
“Pariser Leben” is the title customarily used in German-speaking countries for Jacques Offenbach's opéra-bouffe “La vie parisienne”, with a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. The five-act work premiered on 31 October 1866 at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris, followed just three months later, on 31 January 1867, by its German-language premiere at Vienna's Carltheater.
Plot
Two Parisian men-about-town, Raoul de Gardefeu and Bobinet Chicard, vie for the favour of a visiting Swedish baron and baroness who have come to Paris for the World's Fair. To impress their guests, they have acquaintances of modest means pose as aristocrats and stage elaborate parties that increasingly spin out of control.
Cultural significance
“Pariser Leben” was Offenbach's first full-length work to take contemporary Parisian society itself as its subject, rather than mythological or historical material, and remains, alongside “Orphée aux enfers” and “La belle Hélène”, one of his most frequently performed operettas.