Between 1864 and 1868, Offenbach wrote four of the operettas for which he is chiefly remembered: La belle Hélène (1864), La Vie parisienne (1866), La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein (1867) and La Périchole (1868). Halévy was joined as librettist for all of them by Henri Meilhac. Offenbach, who called them "Meil" and "Hal",Faris, p. 51 said of this trinity: "Je suis sans doute le Père, mais chacun des deux est mon Fils et plein d'Esprit,""1864: Et puis Offenbach vint" , Théâtre des Variétés, Paris (in French), accessed 9 July 2011 a play on words loosely translated as "I am certainly the Father, but each of them is my Son and Wholly Spirited".
