[1] Gounod's previous opera, Philémon et Baucis, also with a text by Barbier and Carré based on a story by La Fontaine, had originally been commissioned for the summer season of 1859 by Édouard Bénazet, the director of the theatre and casino at Baden-Baden.

When the political situation between France and Germany deteriorated in June, Gounod's opera was preemptively withdrawn to avoid potential negative reaction from German audiences, and it ended up being premiered in an expanded form in February 1860 by Léon Carvalho at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris.

[5] The opera includes a breeches role for the valet Mazet, and Maitre Jean has a bass aria (Le grand art de cuisine) on the past glories of the kitchen that still turns up in recital occasionally.

Maître Jean, the majordomo of Countess Sylvie, arrives to buy the bird for her, as she is jealous of her rival Aminte, who seduces her lovers with a trained parrot.

Despite the poverty in which he lives – and to Maître Jean's surprise – Horace does not want to give up his favourite bird (romance and trio: Qu'il garde son argent, "Let him keep his money").

Sylvie is confident that the power of love will lead Horace to let her have the bird (aria: Je veux interroger ce jeune homme, "I want to question this young man").