La Périchole

La Périchole (French pronunciation: [la peʁikɔl]) is an opéra bouffe in three acts with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy. The opera depicts the mutual love of two impoverished Peruvian street singers – too poor to afford a marriage licence – and a lecherous viceroy, Don Andrès de Ribeira, who wishes to make La Périchole his mistress. Love eventually triumphs. The story is based loosely on the play Le carrosse du Saint-Sacrement by Prosper Mérimée (1828), and the title character is based on the Peruvian entertainer Micaela Villegas.

La Perichole was first seen in a two-act version on 6 October 1868 at the Théâtre des Variétés, Paris, with Hortense Schneider in the title role, José Dupuis as Piquillo and Pierre-Eugène Grenier as the Viceroy. A revised three-act version premiered at the same theatre on 25 April 1874, with the same three stars. The work is considered more sentimental than the earlier Offenbach satires, and the score is infused with Spanish and other dance styles. It was staged throughout Europe and the Americas, and is frequently revived, particularly in France. It has also been broadcast on radio and television and recorded many times.