As a fellow at the “Cité internationale des Arts”, Bertold Hummel lived and worked in Paris from 1 July to 31 December 1968. He enjoyed the lively exchange with music and art fellows from all over the world and remained in contact long after this period with the composers Marion Brown and Frank-Michael Beyer, whom he had met there. Hummel’s plan was to write a ballet opera based on Goldoni’s *Corallina* or *The Cheated Cat* – an *opera buffa* – for which the libretto had been written by his friend, the actor, painter and director Luigi Malipiero. The diverse artistic influences of the avant-garde in Paris in 1968, as well as the menacing backdrop of the student revolt with its brutal police crackdowns, stood in stark contrast to the development of this harmless libretto, which the composer evidently lost interest in after 625 fully orchestrated bars. Instead, he felt inspired by the New York jazz composer Marion Brown and the jazz saxophonist Gunter Hampel, and premiered their collaborative ‘Conversation’ at the ‘Cité’ on 3 December. For French television, he improvised his ‘12 Scenes for Soniles’ with the aforementioned jazz musicians, accompanied by sound sculptures by the Swiss artist Eduard Johannes Stöcklin. The only work from this study visit – which proved highly stimulating for Hummel – to have found its way into his catalogue of works is the Sonatina for Violin and Piano, Op. 35, which ranks among his best-known works. The Elegy from this piece is the sole musical idea to have survived from his *opera buffa*.