Les deux aveugles (The Two Blind Men) is a one-act bouffonerie musicale, in the style of an operetta, by Jacques Offenbach to a French libretto by Jules Moinaux. The piece was a condensation of Les Musiciens ambulants. It was first performed at the tiny Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens in the Champs-Elysées, Paris, on 5 July 1855. The piece later received more productions, including translations in German and English, playing at the large Gaiety The...
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Les deux aveugles (The Two Blind Men) is a one-act bouffonerie musicale, in the style of an operetta, by Jacques Offenbach to a French libretto by Jules Moinaux. The piece was a condensation of Les Musiciens ambulants. It was first performed at the tiny Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens in the Champs-Elysées, Paris, on 5 July 1855. The piece later received more productions, including translations in German and English, playing at the large Gaiety Theatre, London in 1872, and has become one of Offenbach's popular one-act works.
The half-hour long piece is a comic sketch about two blind beggars. Offenbach was bold in making light of the disabled poor, but he believed that his patrons would see the humour of the piece. Most Parisians had been pestered by beggars on Parisian street corners, and Offenbach's blind beggars were con men, rather than deserving outcasts of society. The little piece was an instant hit, praised for its catchy dance tunes.
Offenbach became the darling of Second Empire...
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