[4] Ribemont-Dessaignes wrote the libretto for Martinů's second opera Les larmes du couteau (1928) with an "outlandish" and "jazz-oriented scenario".
[7] Very much of its time, the score references "the wit of Les Six, La Revue Nègre and the first tangos in Paris... snatches of atonality", while "quirky, wistful music, calling for a jazz pianist and a barbershop quartet, puts on a smile in the face of life’s bitterness".
[4] Les trois souhaits aroused some interest in 1930 from the directors of the Berlin-Charlottenburg Opera; Martinů travelled to the German capital to present the work, but negotiations foundered on financial and administrative considerations to do with making the film and the sets, significantly greater that what they were used to create.
In May 1973, conducted by Jean-Pierre Jacquillat, a production by the then joint directors of the Lyon Opera Louis Erlo and Jean Aster was seen by the composer's widow, the cast including Emmy Gregor as the fairy.
[5] A production of January 2007 at the Großes Haus, Das Volkstheater Rostock, Germany conducted by Peter Leonard, directed by Jiří Nekvasil, and with Olaf Lemme (Juste/Arthur), Ines Wilhelm (Indolenda), Christoph Kayser (Adolphe), Lucie Ceralová (Fairy/Lilian Nevermore) was the first with no musical cuts; some dialogue alone was excised at the start of Act 3.
[6] A chorus singing about money – with a refrain “a thousand dollars” is cut off by the entrance of the director and crew for a film who began the frantic preparations for the shoot.
The main characters enter from their dressing rooms: Nina Valencia (playing Indolenda) and her husband Arthur de St. Barbe (Mr. Juste), Serge Eliacin (Adolf) and Lillian Nevermore (the Fairy).
When Juste brings the fairy home, she removes any suspicion that she might be a new mistress by promising to make three wishes come true if she would regain her liberty.
A hunchbacked vagrant (the formerly rich Eblouie Barbichette) falls in love with him but becomes so possessive that finally she beats out of jealousy.
Indolenda and Adolf (as the actors Nina Valencia and Serge Eliacin) decide that they will continue to be lovers in real life as well.
The film about the start is the full story repeated (through and instrumental movement of around fifteen minutes) and is a major success.
After Le Départ, in an epilogue, Artur enters a bar, remaining apart, proud of his success, but fearing that the others present are mocking him.