Offenbach is reported saying he composed over 100 operas, and whilst this number is widely disputed, outside the likes of Les contes d’Hoffmann, Orphée aux enfers and La belle Hélène there are a vast number of works that are rarely performed, let alone recorded. Opera Rara’s mission is to ‘restore, record, perform and promote the lost operatic heritage of the 19th and early 20th centuries.’ This is certainly the case for La Princesse de Trébizonde, which has received only one full recording before in 1966 from a French radio broadcast.

The operetta follows a Prince pretending to fall in love with a waxwork he encounters at a traveling circus as a guise for his attraction to a circus girl much lower than his station. This excerpt from the Act 3 Galop, ‘La la la’, is part of the celebrations for a triple wedding at the culmination of the evening with the sounds of toy instruments evoking the traveling circus. No translation is required as the characters are imitating guitars (‘la la’), trumpets (‘ta ta ra ta’) and bass drum (‘zing boum’) in true operetta fashion.

The recording of the full opera by Opera Rara is now available now on their YouTube page as well as on CD and Download.