La chanson de Fortunio

[2] Taken as a whole, this operetta has never formed part of what may be termed the standard repertoire, but despite this, and especially during the period prior to the First World War, the title song remained extremely popular as a recital item, and indeed the writer of Offenbach's obituary in The Times considered the song itself to be one of his best compositions along with Orpheus in the Underworld and La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein – with La belle Hélène following behind these "at some distance".

[6] The first public performance of La chanson de Fortunio took place in the Salle Choiseul of the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, Paris, on 5 January 1861.

[5] The work was soon seen around Europe and beyond: Brussels and Berlin in 1861, Budapest, Prague, Graz and Stockholm in 1862, St Petersburg in 1864 (and 1905), New York and Basel in 1867, Milan in 1868 and London in 1871 (and 1907).

It formed the first part of an Offenbach double bill, the other half of the programme being M. Choufleuri restera chez lui le .

Many years ago, when he was a young clerk, Fortunio had seduced the wife of his employer with the help of a particularly alluring song which he used as a means of charming her.