Caption:
The actor Dupuis as Fritz in Jacques Offenbach's La Grande Duchesse de Gérolstein (The Grand Duchess of Gérolstein) 1867. Book and lyrics by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) was a German-born French composer and cellist, and one of the originators of the operetta form. The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein is the tale of a grande Dame who rules the tiny Duchy of Gerolstein. The plot of the opera hinges on the interests of the title character for Fritz, a young private. He is swiftly promoted to the rank of General by his admirer, the Duchess. But Fritz has a fiancée, and ideas of his own - and eventually the Grand Duchess has to settle for the absurdly foppish, but politically expedient, Prince Paul.