Der Bettelstudent (The Beggar Student) is an operetta in three acts by Carl Millöcker with a German libretto by Camillo Walzel (under the pseudonym of F. Zell) and Richard Genée, based on Les noces de Fernande by Victorien Sardou and The Lady of Lyons by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. However, the librettists added the element of combining love and politics to the French comedy plots. It premiered in Vienna in 1882.
The work was performed first at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, on 6 December 1882. It was a success and allowed Millöcker to retire from conducting. Johann Strauss II rejected the libretto in favor of A Night in Venice , [1] but Millöcker's work turned out to be an enduringly popular operetta, with over 5,000 productions. [2]
The piece played at the Thalia Theatre in New York City in 1883 and then in English at the Casino Theatre in 1883. It was revived in New York at least three times: in 1898 and 1899 at the Thalia Theatre, and in 1913 at the Casino Theatre. [3] It was also performed in London at the Alhambra Theatre in 1884, in a four-act version. [4]
The operetta has been filmed several times; as a silent film (1927) and simultaneously in German and in English (1931). [5] A 1936 German film adaptation was directed by Georg Jacoby, and a 1956 West German film adaptation was directed by Werner Jacobs. Mazurka der Liebe from 1957 was produced in East Germany. It has also been performed on German television.
Recent productions in English include Ohio Light Opera (1996), [6] and Light Opera Works (1991). [7]
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 6 December 1882 [8] Conductor: Carl Millöcker |
|---|---|---|
| Colonel Ollendorf, Commander of Krakow | bass | Felix Schweighofer |
| Symon Rymanowicz, [lower-alpha 1] the beggar student | tenor | Alexander Girardi |
| Jan Janicki, a student | tenor | Josef Josephi |
| Enterich, a jailer | baritone | Carl Adolf Friese |
| Piffke, warden | tenor | |
| Puffke, warden | tenor | |
| Richthofen | tenor | |
| Palmatica, Countess Nowalska | mezzo-soprano | Therese Braunecker-Schäfer |
| Laura Nowalska, Palmatica's daughter | soprano | Caroline Finaly |
| Bronislava, Palmatica's daughter | soprano | Lore Jona |
| Onuphrie, Palmatica's servant | bass | |
| Count Bogumil Malachowski, [lower-alpha 2] Palmatica's cousin | bass | Alexander Guttmann |
| Eva, wife of Bogumil | mezzo-soprano | Lore Jona |
| Major von Wangenheim | tenor | |
| Lieutenant von Schweinitz | bass | Franz Eppich |
| Captain Henrici | bass | |
| Prisoners and their wives, soldiers, wedding guests chorus | ||
Colonel Ollendorf seeks revenge against Laura Nowalska, who rebuffed him with her fan, offended by his advances. Laura's mother declares that only a Pole and nobleman can be her son-in-law. He releases a seemingly penniless student and his friend (Symon and Janicki) to pose as a millionnaire and his aide, to entice the bankrupt but venerable Nowalska family. Laura agrees to marry Symon, and Janicki falls in love with Laura's sister.
The money that the colonel supplied to Symon is just about gone and he is no longer able to keep up the appearance of nobility. He and Laura have developed genuine feelings for each other and he struggles with the decision to tell her the truth. He writes a letter confessing the ruse. The colonel senses that the letter will end the plot, and convinces Laura's mother not to open it. When the wedding ceremony is over, the colonel reveals the truth about Symon, who is subsequently driven from the palace.
Symon is contemplating suicide, when his friend Janicki reveals that he is a Polish officer and is part of a group of patriots who are planning to capture the citadel and to reinstate King Stanislaus. The Governor-General discovers that Janicki knows the whereabouts of the Polish grand duke and bribes him with 200,000 thalers to reveal his location to the Austrians. Janicki asks Symon to impersonate the grand duke until the money for his capture can be paid. The plot succeeds. In return, he is knighted by King Stanislaus and accepted by his wife and mother-in-law.
Act 1
Act 2
Act 3
Johann Friedrich Agricola was a German composer, organist, singer, pedagogue, and writer on music. He sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Flavio Anicio Olibrio.
Die Herzogin von Chicago is an operetta in two acts, a prologue, and an epilogue. The music was composed by Hungarian composer Emmerich Kálmán with a libretto by Julius Brammer and Alfred Grünwald. It premiered in Vienna at the Theater an der Wien on April 5, 1928, and played for 372 performances. The work was presented in out-of-town tryouts in Newark, New Jersey and Springfield, Massachusetts by the Shuberts in 1929, but it did not make it to Broadway. The piece was forgotten until 1997, when the Lubo Opera Company performed it in concert in New York, after which Light Opera Works of Illinois performed the work in 1998 in a fully staged version with a new translation by Philip Kraus and Gregory Opelka. In 1999, Richard Bonynge made a recording of the work, which revived international interest in it.
Boccaccio, oder Der Prinz von Palermo is an operetta in three acts by Franz von Suppé to a German libretto by Camillo Walzel and Richard Genée, based on the play by Jean-François Bayard, Adolphe de Leuven, Léon Lévy Brunswick and Arthur de Beauplan, based in turn on The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio. Despite the opera's clear links to the Viennese opera tradition, Suppé's opera takes most of its style from Italian opera.
Der Graf von Luxemburg is an operetta in three acts by Franz Lehár to a German libretto by Alfred Willner, Robert Bodanzky, and Leo Stein. A Viennese take on bohemian life in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century, the story revolves around an impoverished aristocrat and a glamorous opera singer who have entered into a sham marriage without ever seeing each other and later fall in love at first sight, unaware that they are already husband and wife.
Ilka Pálmay, born Ilona Petráss, was a Hungarian-born singer and actress. Pálmay began her stage career in Hungary by 1880, and by the early 1890s, she was creating leading roles in opera and operetta at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna. She was married to Austrian Count Eugen Kinsky in the early 1890s.
Franz Friedrich Richard Genée was a Prussian-born Austrian librettist, playwright, and composer.
Der Zarewitsch is an operetta in three acts by Franz Lehár. The German libretto by Heinz Reichert and Bela Jenbach is based on the play of the same name by Polish author Gabriela Zapolska. Lehár composed the work, one of his later operettas, as a vehicle for Richard Tauber, the acclaimed Austrian tenor. The work received its first performance at the Deutsches Künstlertheater in Berlin on 16 February 1927, with Tauber and Rita Georg in the leading roles.
Alexander Girardi was an Austrian actor and tenor singer in operettas.
The Beggar Student is a 1956 West German musical film directed by Werner Jacobs and starring Gerhard Riedmann, Waltraut Haas and Elma Karlowa. It is based on the operetta Der Bettelstudent by Karl Millöcker, and is part of the operetta film tradition. It was shot at the Bavaria Studios and the Carlton Studios in Munich. The film's sets were designed by the art director Felix Smetana.
Camillo Walzel was a German librettist and theatre director, who wrote under the pseudonym F Zell.
The Beggar Student is a 1936 German operetta film directed by Georg Jacoby and starring Fritz Kampers, Harry Hardt and Ida Wüst. It is an adaptation of the 1882 operetta Der Bettelstudent by Carl Millöcker. It was shot at the Babelsberg Studios of UFA in Potsdam. The film's sets were designed by the art directors Fritz Maurischat and Karl Weber.
Franz Schubert's best-known music for the theatre is his incidental music for Rosamunde. Less successful were his many opera and Singspiel projects. On the other hand, some of his most popular Lieder, like "Gretchen am Spinnrade," were based on texts written for the theatre.
The Beggar Student is a 1927 German silent film directed by Jacob Fleck and Luise Fleck and starring Harry Liedtke, Ida Wüst and Agnes Esterhazy. It is an adaptation of Carl Millöcker's operetta The Beggar Student. It was shot at the Staaken Studios in Berlin. The film's art direction was by Botho Hoefer and Hans Minzloff.
The Beggar Student is a 1931 German operetta film directed by Victor Janson and starring Hans-Heinz Bollmann, Jarmila Novotná and Fritz Schulz. The film is based on the 1882 operetta The Beggar Student. A British version of the film The Beggar Student was also released the same year.
Die Verschworenen, also known as Der häusliche Krieg is an 1823 one-act singspiel by Franz Schubert after a libretto by Ignaz Franz Castelli with spoken dialogue by the composer. Castelli's libretto was based on Lisistrata, ou Les Athéniennes, Comédie en un acte et en prose, mêlée de vaudevilles by François-Benoît Hoffman, which had premiered at the Théâtre Feydeau in Paris in 1802. The French play in turn was based on Lysistrata by Aristophanes.
Peter Minich was an Austrian stage actor who became a tenor performing in operas, operettas and musical films. He was for decades the lead tenor of the Volksoper in Vienna, focused on Viennese operetta.
Josef Ichhäuser (1852–1920), known by the stage name Josef Josephi (also spelled Joseffy), was an Austrian Empire-born singer (tenor-baritone) and actor.
"Nun liebe Seel, nun ist es Zeit", alternatively written "Nun, liebe Seel, nun ist es Zeit", is a Lutheran hymn for Epiphany, in five stanzas of six lines each, by Georg Weissel. It was first printed in 1642, set as a motet by Johannes Eccard. A version with an additional stanza is attributed to Johann Christoph Arnschwanger.
Polly Batic was an Austrian operatic mezzo-soprano who appeared in Europe. She frequently appeared at the Salzburg Festivals between the world wars in roles such as Annina in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss and Marcellina in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. After World War II, she became an ensemble member of the Vienna State Opera. She often appeared in contemporary opera, including the world premiere of Der Prozeß in Salzburg in 1953.
Lutherstrophe is a seven-line strophe used in Occitan and German song and literature. Rooted in Old Occitan lyric poetry and Minnesang, the strophe became popular in 16th-century Lutheran hymn. It is named after Martin Luther.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
