User:4meter4/sandbox12

The Black Hussar is a comic opera in three acts with music by Carl Millöcker. The original work, entitled Der Feldprediger (English: The Army Chaplain), used a German-language libretto by Hugo Wittmann and Alois Wohlmuth that was adapted from Gustav Schilling's Das seltsame Brautgemach. It premiered in Vienna in 1884 but was only a modest success in Austria. The operetta achieved greater acclaim in the United States in a highly successful English-language adaption by the playwright Sydney Rosenfeld entitled The Black Hussar. This version of Millöcker's comic opera was first performed at Wallack's Theatre on Broadway in 1885 where it had a successful run. The work was subsequently revived on Broadway in 1887 and 1900, and was also performed widely by other American opera troupes during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Roles

Roles, voice types, premiere cast

Role	Original Broadway cast Conductor: A. DeNovelis
Friedrich von Helbert	Mark Smith
Hans von Waldmann	Edwin W. Hoff
Theophil Hackenback	DeWolf Hopper
Piffkow	Digby Bell
Mefflin	A. W. Maflin
François Thorilliere	Jay Taylor
Rubke	J. A. Furen
Wutki	A. Barbara
Minna	Lilly Post
Rosetta	Marie Jansen
Barbara	Mathilde Cottrelly
Shadow	Charles O'Neil
Bruck	A. D. Barker
Eiken	Frank Howard
Selchow	L. C. Shrader
Prittwitz	H. W. Frazer
Putnam	Henry Platte

Plot

Von Helbert, an officer of the Black Hussars, disguises himself as an army chaplain. Helbert seeks to instigate an insurrection in the town of Trautenfeld. Hackenback, the town magistrate, has carried himself so diplomatically , as between the Russians and French , and is so opposed to any rupture with either from fear of sudden visitation , that Von Helbert's efforts to induce his townsmen to rise against the Napoleonic régime are not altogether successful . The French in the mean time are hunting for him , but he cunningly succeeds in getting a description of the magistrate posted for that of himself. To be ready for any sudden emergency , Hackenback has a reversible panel on his house one side having the portrait of the Czar and the other that of Napoleon . When he is suspected by the French , he calls their attention to it ; but unfortunately for him the Russian side is exposed , and this with the description which Von Helbert had so kindly posted leads to his arrest . Finally the Black Hussar regiment arrives , and captures the French troops just as they have captured the Russian , which had previously been in occupation , so that there is no need for further disguises . The humorous situations in the opera grow out of the love - making between Von Helbert and his companion Waldermann and the magistrate's daughters Minna and Rosetta . Although " The Black Hussar " is musically inferior to " The Beggar Student , " yet it has many interesting numbers, among them the long descriptive song of Piffkow , the man of all work , “ Piffkow , Piffkow , that's the cry , " which reminds one in its general character of Figaro's famous song in " The Barber of Seville " ; the magistrate's buffo song , " All Night long I've weighed and sifted " ; Helbert's martial recitative , “ I've traversed Lands that once were green " ; the jolly gossipers ' chorus , introducing the second act ; Piffkow's bombastic song , " ' Twas in the Adjacent Town Last Night ” ; Minna's quaint Russian song , “ Ivan loved his Katza well " ; the introduced song , " Ohe , mamma " ; and the trio following it , " The Ways of Love are very strange , " which closes the act .

History

Der Feldprediger premiered in Vienna at the Theater an der Wien on 31 October 1884.

The McCaull Opera Comique Company performed the work at Wallack's Theatre for the opera's first staging on Broadway where it opened on May 7, 1887. That production used an English language adptation of Wittmann and Wohlmuth's libretto that was written by the playwright Sydney Rosenfeld, and closed on May 30, 1887. The Castle Square Opera Company performed a Broadway revival of the opera in 1900 at the American Theatre.

References

Bibliography

• Bordman, Gerald Martin; Norton, Richard (2010). American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199729708.
• Griffel, Margaret Ross (2018). "Der Feldprediger". Operas in German: A Dictionary. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 200-201. ISBN 9781442247970.
• Letellier, Robert Ignatius (2015). Operetta: A Sourcebook, Volume I. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 9781443884259.
• Preston, Katherine K. (2017). Opera for the People: English-Language Opera and Women Managers in Late 19th-Century America. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199371662.
• Smith, Cecil Michener; Litton, Glenn (1981). Musical Comedy in America. Theatre Arts Books. ISBN 9780878305643.
• Traubner, Richard (2004). Operetta: A Theatrical History. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781135887834.
• Upton, George Putnam (1902). "The Black Hussar". The Standard Light Operas, Their Plots and Their Music. A.C. McClurg & Company.

External links

• ​4meter4/sandbox12​ at the Internet Broadway Database
• Rosenfeld, Sydney; Millöcker, Carl; Wittmann, Hugo; Wohlmuth, Alois (1885). The Black Hussar: A Comic Opera in 3 Acts. New York: Brentano Brothers.