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June’s featured text
Orphée aux Enfers is a libretto by Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy for the first full-length opera by Jacques Offenbach. The opera parodies the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. It was first performed on 21 October 1858, and a revival in 1874 broke previous records at the Gaîté's box-office. The music of the "Galop Infernal" from the final scene was adopted to accompany the vigorous can-can by the music halls of Paris. Orphée aux Enfers remains the most often produced of Offenbach's operas.
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Woman that dreams
Sleeps not;
She rises
With the dawn.
Early flowers appear finer;
The meadows are embroidered;
But these flowers, who are they for?
You wish to know
For whom?
Say nothing of it to my spouse,
They are for the pretty shepherd
Who dwells there.
