“Miscreants in Mantua,” by George Loomis

“Miscreants in Mantua,” by George Loomis

Jacques Offenbach’s Les brigands is among the last of his large-scale, three-act operettas with librettos by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, the duo that worked with him on such favorites as La belle Hélène, La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein, and La Périchole (and that later wrote the libretto of Carmen). Its premiere in December 1869 came just months before the Franco-Prussian War, so that, unlike the other operettas, it was unable to solidify…