The theme of both Schumann‘s piano suite Papillons [butterflies] and Debussy‘s ballet La boîte à joujoux [the toy-box] is rivalry over a girl: in Papillons, the brothers Walt und Vult vie for the favour of the lovely Wina; in Debussy‘s world of toys, a soldier falls in love with a doll whose heart belongs to another.
The puppets and the equipment were made in the workshops of the Salzburg Marionette Theatre.