[1] The sub-title was La femme à deux maris;[2] the working title during the preparation of the libretto and composition had been Frimouskino, which Offenbach had drafted in the late 1860s.[3] Composed in Nice, Offenbach asked Nuitter and Ferrier to help him with the song lyrics as his regular collaborators, Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy had distanced themselves in order to concentrate on other projects, including work with Charles Lecocq.The malagueña was inserted as an additional song for Fiorella in the Christmas Day revival of Les brigands at the Théâtre de la Gaîté in 1878.The marriage contract has already been signed, but Ripardos and Frimouskino in the dim light of the chapel manage to get Alvarès, not Don Guardona into religious union with Manoëla – thus giving her two husbands.In the palace of the Marquis Don Henrique de Rio Grande A group of servants sing of the futility of thwarting true young love.