Opera Rara’s recording of Offenbach’s Fantasio (1872) won an International Opera Award in 2015. Now the British pioneers are back with another of the composer’s late operettas, La Princess de Trébizonde.

This classic opéra bouffe from 1869 – with a delightfully silly plot and music to match – might well have had a longer run if the Franco-Prussian War hadn’t impacted on Offenbach’s fortunes and the public taste. Indeed, the review in Le Figaro of the Baden-Baden premiere trumpeted its merits: “[Offenbach] can show up on Judgment Day holding Orphée in one hand and La Princesse de Trébionde in the other; he is sure to be appointed the Good Lord’s Choirmaster.”

The storyline is wonderfully topsy-turvy. The Princess of Trébizonde is in fact a waxwork, the prime exhibit in circus manager Cabriolo’s cabinet of curiosities. When his daughter Zanetta accidentally breaks off its nose with a feather duster (as recounted in appropriate couplets) she is forced to take its place.