# Le 66

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{{Short description|Opérette by Jacques Offenbach}}
{{italic title}}
[[File:Jacques Offenbach by Nadar.jpg|thumb|upright|Jacques Offenbach by [Nadar](/source/Nadar), c. 1860s]]
'''''Le 66''''' is an [opérette](/source/op%C3%A9rette) in one act of 1856 with music by [Jacques Offenbach](/source/Jacques_Offenbach). The [French](/source/French_language) libretto was by [Auguste Pittaud de Forges](/source/Auguste_Pittaud_de_Forges) and [Laurencin](/source/Laurencin) ([Paul Aimé Chapelle](/source/Laurencin)).<ref>[Lamb A.](/source/Andrew_Lamb_(writer)), "Jacques Offenbach (List of stage works)" in: ''[The New Grove Dictionary of Opera](/source/The_New_Grove_Dictionary_of_Opera)''. Macmillan, London and New York, 1997.</ref> [Kurt Gänzl](/source/Kurt_G%C3%A4nzl) describes the work as "in the rustic vein of ''[Le violoneux](/source/Le_violoneux)'' and ''[Le mariage aux lanternes](/source/Le_mariage_aux_lanternes)''".<ref name="Gänzl">[Gänzl K.](/source/Kurt_G%C3%A4nzl), "''Le 66''" in: ''The Encyclopaedia of the Musical Theatre.'' Blackwell, Oxford, 1994.</ref>

==Performance history==
The premiere was at the [Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens](/source/Th%C3%A9%C3%A2tre_des_Bouffes-Parisiens) (Salle Lacaze) Paris, on 31 July 1856, one of nine one-acters produced by the Bouffes Parisiens that year. ''Le 66'' remained in the Bouffes Parisiens  répertoire, and was played by them in Vienna in 1862. It had already been seen at the [Carltheater](/source/Carltheater) in that city in 1859, was produced in Budapest in 1860, and mounted in London in 1865 and 1876. It was revived in Paris in 1984 at the Studio Bertrand alongside ''[Pépito](/source/P%C3%A9pito_(opera))''.<ref name="Gänzl"/> 

Contemporary critics particularly admired in the score the romance and tyrolienne and the entry song of the colporteur.<ref name="Yon"/>

In 2019, ''Le 66'' was performed in a triple bill (with [Samuel Barber](/source/Samuel_Barber)'s ''[A Hand of Bridge](/source/A_Hand_of_Bridge)'' and [Peter Reynolds](/source/Peter_Reynolds_(composer))' ''[Sands of Time](/source/Sands_of_Time_(opera))'') at the [Grimeborn](/source/Grimeborn) Festival, Dalston, London.

==Roles==
{| class="wikitable"
|+{{sronly|Roles, voice types, premiere cast}}
!Role
![Voice type](/source/Voice_type)
!Premiere cast, 31 July 1856<ref name="Yon"/><br>Conductor: Jacques Offenbach
|-
|Frantz, a young Tyrolean, travelling singer
|[tenor](/source/tenor)
|Gerpré
|-
|Grittly, his cousin, travelling singer
|[soprano](/source/soprano)
|Maréschal
|-
|Joseph Berthold
|[baritone](/source/baritone)
|Guyot
|-
|}

==Synopsis==
En route for Strasbourg two starving travellers reach the outskirts of Stuttgart. Grittly has learnt that her sister is in great distress and set off to see her; Frantz has gone with her.
On meeting a pedlar on the road Frantz wins 100,000 florins in a lottery with the ticket 66. He borrows money from the pedlar and goes off to the town on a spending spree, returning in expensive grotesque clothes.
Grittly and he argue – and then discover that the ticket is actually 99.
However, the pedlar turns out to be a rich long-lost relation (and husband of Grittly's sister) who wanted to give Frantz a lesson in the dangers of extravagance.<ref name="Yon">[Yon, Jean-Claude](/source/Jean-Claude_Yon). ''Jacques Offenbach.'' Éditions Gallimard, Paris, 2000.</ref>

==Musical numbers==
* Introduction with offstage duo
* Romance « En apprenant cette détresse » and Tyrolienne « Dans mon Tyrol »
* Air « Voilà le colporteur »
* Trio « Et maintenant lisez-nous ça »
* Couplets « C’était la compagne fidèle »
* Couplets « Cocasse ? moi »
* Trio « O ciel ! ô ciel ! »
* Final « Ah ! quel bonheur »

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.boosey.com/downloads/66.pdf Original livret de censure of July 1856, accessed 27 July 2011]

{{Jacques Offenbach}}

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:66}}

Category:Operas by Jacques Offenbach
Category:French-language operas
Category:Opérettes
Category:One-act operas
Category:1856 operas
Category:Operas
Category:Operas set in Germany

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Le 66](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_66) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_66?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.