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THE BIRD
SELLER Die Vogelhändler By Carl Zeller SYNOPSIS This operetta in 3 acts is based on Varin and Biéville
comedy, ‘Ce qui deviennent les roses’ (libretto by Moritz West
and Ludwig Held). It was premiered at Theater an der Wein in Vienna, Austria
in January 1891. The setting is in the Rhineland village untimely
depleted of games and wildlife just when the Prince sends word that
he’s coming for a wild boars hunt. The panicked villagers, led by Mayor
Schneck, bribe the Master of the Hunt, Baron Weps, to pass off domestic pigs
as wild ones for the royal hunt. Alas, the Prince changes his mind and sends
Weps a message that he isn’t coming after all. To avoid the loss of his
money, Weps arranges for his nephew Stanislaus to impersonate the Prince. Adam, the young Tyrolean bird-seller keen on marrying
Christel, the village postmistress, is distraught that he is too broke for
her. To complicate matters Princess Marie arrives in disguised as a peasant
girl, seeking to catch her husband cheating. Marie proves quite eye-catching
for Adam. Christel, being aware of Adam’s money-trouble,
approaches the Prince (Stanislaus in disquise) to try to secure the post of
Royal Menagerie Keeper. Her rather private ‘meeting’ with
‘the Prince’ isn’t well taken by the jealous Adam, who
mistakes the event as a voluntary tryst. The kind-hearted Marie tries to
cheer him up by offering him her bouquet... which leads to more romantic
complication since it is the custom of the Tyrolean that one only presents
roses when deeply in love. Adam passes the qualification exams by two eccentric
professors and is given the job. He plays the louse by suggesting to the
distressed Christel that she should marry Stanislaus instead of him. Princess
Marie comes to the rescue again and assures Christel that she isn’t her
romantic rival which results in a happily marriage, other engagements and the
Princess’ reconciliation with her husband. |
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