Metamorphosen der Belle Hélène von Meilhac, Halévy und Offenbach

Abstract

La Belle Hélène (1864) quickly became an international success. Directors and those responsible for arranging the score soon began to take fairly arbitrary liberties in their dealings with the libretto and music, presumedly in an attempt to adapt them to contemporary aesthetics or divergent cultural tastes. When Offenbach conducted the opéra-bouffe in Berlin in 1865, he introduced a new overture, a substantial aria for Hélène that replaced her couplet “Là vrai, je ne suis pas coupable,” and other changes that had not yet appeared as alternative, authoritative versions in new editions. Four German versions (Fulda 1927, Reinhardt 1931, Finck 1946, and Hacks 1964) as well as the arrangement in English by Anderson and Rippley are analysed in detail.