In 1922, Carlo Lombardo, at the height of his creative period of inspired ideas, produced two successful operettas: *Scugnizza* and *La Danza delle Libellule*. For the former, the music was composed by Mario Costa; for the latter, Lombardo had obtained permission from Lehár himself to adapt the melodies from *Sterngucker*, which had previously been staged, with little success, in Vienna in 1916. In the skilful hands of the Neapolitan composer-librettist, the operetta was so successfully transformed that Lehár himself decided to stage it first in Vienna, then in various countries across Europe and in America. In Northern European countries, *La Danza delle Libellule* remains the most frequently performed of Italian operettas to this day, and is known by the title *Le Tre Grazie*. 
The wealthy Piper has taken possession of the castle in Nancy and assumed the title of Duke. He wishes to stage a play he has written himself in the castle’s ballroom, partly to woo the beautiful Elena, the widow Cliquot; he involves his friends Pommery and Gratin, and their wives Carlotta and Tutù, in this production. The group is joined by Bouquet Blum, a likeable unemployed actor looking for a role. Suddenly, Carlo, a hunter, arrives, and Elena, Carlotta and Tutù immediately flit around him like dragonflies, competing with one another to win his heart. Piper and the husbands sense the danger and threaten to have Carlo arrested as a poacher; Carlo is thus forced to reveal himself as the one and only Duke of Nancy. The rivalry between the women intensifies until, with Bouquet’s help, Carlo marries the woman who had captured his heart from the very start: Elena.