[2][3] Beginning on 5 April 1870 it was produced at the Théâtre Lyrique with Rosine Bloch in the role of Odette and was given there a total of 22 times.

It was performed in German in Hamburg (13 February 1851) and in Italian in Milan (16 March 1876).

The opera centres on King Charles VI of France, who amid episodes of madness, is attempting to defeat the English invaders.

Odette, a fictional predecessor of Joan of Arc, thwarts a plot by Queen Isabelle and the English nobleman Bedfort to displace the Dauphin with Bedfort's son Lancastre, and helps restore the Dauphin to his rightful place as heir to the throne of France.

[7] The King is dying as he and the assembled French swear to the Dauphin: Guerre aux tyrans!