Everyone should steal according to their position in society: this is the quintessence of a work that’s lesser known in this country but all the more amusing for it, from the pen of Jacques Offenbach—who saw through people so well.

A band of robbers with a dysfunctional robber bride (who keeps falling for their good-looking prey), policemen who clack their boots so loudly that anyone can escape easily, and princes who are simply the more professional brigands: that’s the stuff of this robber yarn with plenty of musical wit and a big chorus. The piece was a huge success when it premiered in 1869, but the Franco-Prussian War caused its star to rapidly decline after 1870. A great injustice! Max Hopp takes up the challenge in this concert version, showing us that Offenbach is just as critical as Schiller—but much funnier!