La Périchole, step by step

There is the colourfast Offenbach, hard-wearing, crease-resistant though well-worn – the Offenbach of Orphée aux Enfers, La Belle Hélène, La Vie parisienne; the Offenbach with a single refrain that ensures the work’s glory, as in Les Brigands, with its Carabinieri who ‘always get there too late’ and the sound of their boots that has become proverbial, or La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein with its heroine who ‘loves military men’ and celebrates ‘her father’s sword’; the Offenbach of countless skits in one act (Monsieur Choufleuri; Ba-ta-clan; Les Deux Aveugles); the tender Offenbach of La Chanson de Fortunio, Vert-Vert, Fantasio; the Offenbach of the collector of curios – Barkouf, Robinson Crusoé, Le Pont des soupirs; the Offenbach of the prissily precious who will tolerate only Les Contes d’Hoffmann. And then there is La Périchole, which enjoys special favour with those who, without being able to explain why, place it at the peak of his output.