Die Rheinnixen

Die Rheinnixen (French: Les fées du Rhin; English The Rhine Nixies) is a romantic opera in four acts by Jacques Offenbach. The original libretto by Charles-Louis-Etienne Nuitter was translated into German by Alfred von Wolzogen.

The Elves’ Song from Die Rheinnixen was later used in The Tales of Hoffmann, where it became the "Barcarolle" (Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour), in the 'Giulietta' act; Conrad's drinking song was also re-used in the same act.

The first performance was given in a truncated form (owing to the illness of the tenor Alois Ander) on 4 February 1864 at the Hoftheater in Vienna.

The first full performance was given in concert at the Corum, Montpellier 30 July 2002 with Regina Schörg (Armgard), Nora Gubisch (Hedwig), Piotr Beczala (Franz), Dalibor Jenis (Conrad), and Peter Klaveness (Gottfried), and the Orchestre National de Montpellier, conducted by Friedemann Layer, which was recorded. The first fully staged performance was given in Ljubljana by the Slovenian National Opera under Dieter Rossberg on 13 January 2005. Performances followed in Trier and at the Opéra de Lyon under Marc Minkowski later in 2005, and in Cottbus in 2006. (These performances, as at the Vienna premiere, were all given in German.) New Sussex Opera gave the British premiere of the work, under the title The Rhine Fairies, in October 2009, conducted by Nicholas Jenkins.

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