Vert-Vert. OpĂ©ra comique en 3 actes. Musique de J. Offenbach. E. Heu, Ăditeur. Paris, 1869. BibliothĂšque nationale de France, dĂ©partement Musique, VM5-2070.
Vert-Vert was inspired by the famous poem, written by Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset in 1734. In this, the parrot Ver-Vert is the adored pet in a convent at Nevers. He has learned to speak, and is admired by visitors and all the sisters.
Jamais du mal il nâavait eu lâidĂ©e,Ne disait onc un immodest mot:Mais en revanche il savait des cantiquesDes oremus, des colloques mystiques;Il disait bein son benedicite,Et notre mere, et votre charitĂ©
The bird is sent on a voyage to Nantes, to lodge with a different order, but on the voyage falls in with a bad crowd, forgets the sacred phrases he had learned from the nuns, and shocks his new companions with his gutter language.
âJour de dieu!âŠMor!âŠmille pipes de diables!âToute la grille, Ă ces mots effroyables,Tremble dâhorreur; les nonettes sans voixFont, en fuyant, mille signes de croix
Returned in disgrace, and confined to his cage, he is gradually weaned back to the paths of righteousness, and the parrot dies in a new state of piety. In its day Ver-Vert had been seen as anti-clerical, but had survived as a classic example of the conte en vers.
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