The tramps
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The tramps |
| Shape: | operetta |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Carl Michael Ziehrer |
| Libretto : | Leopold Krenn and Karl Lindau |
| Premiere: | July 26, 1899 |
| Place of premiere: | Vienna |
| Playing time: | approx. 2 ½ hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Upper Bavaria before 1900 |
| people | |
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Die Landstreicher is an operetta with a prelude and two acts by Carl Michael Ziehrer . The libretto was written by Leopold Krenn and Karl Lindau . It premiered on July 26, 1899 at the Venice Summer Theater in Vienna . Of the 22 operettas that Ziehrer composed, only Die Landstreicher have proven to be permanent in terms of stage performances .
orchestra
Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, a harp, percussion and strings
action
place and time
The operetta takes place in Upper Bavaria at the end of the 19th century.
foreplay
Image: Simultanbühne, on one side a detention room, on the other side a hearing room in the court
The wandering couple August and Berta Fliederbusch found a valuable pearl necklace and a thousand-mark note on the country road. Overjoyed, the two go to the next inn and order a sumptuous meal. Of course, they stand out because, judging by their clothes, the couple cannot afford such expensive food at all. The police are there quickly and bring them to justice. Assessor Roland is in a hurry. He quickly confiscated the jewelry and money, had the suspects brought to the detention room and went to see his lover, the innkeeper’s daughter Anna Gratwohl.
August and Berta Fliederbusch search the walls of their prison and discover an unlocked door. This will take you back to the negotiation room. Since no one is around, they search the closet for things that might be useful to them. They also find the confiscated items, which they are now taking back. Just as they are about to leave the building, Prince Adolar Gilka enters the room, accompanied by the dancer Mimi. Without thinking for a long time, August Fliederbusch slips the judge's gown on and asks those who have entered what they want. The prince reports that a valuable necklace has been stolen from him. The matter will of course be investigated, countered the alleged judge. For the time being, the gentleman and lady may go to the next room and wait there. As soon as the door has slammed shut, August and Berta Fliederbusch take the coats and hats of the prisoners they left in the negotiation room and flee.
When, a little later, court assessor Roland returns, he is amazed when he wants to have the tramp couple demonstrated and instead two completely different people enter the hearing room. He immediately orders the shady characters to be pursued.
first act
Image: In front of a hotel on a lake in Upper Bavaria
A couple of days have passed. August and Berta Fliederbusch have now learned that the valuable necklace is a high reward. This has lured them into the place where they can be redeemed in the town hall. But before they endure the official procedure, they rent a room in the luxury hotel "Zum schwarzen Adler". They sign in the guest book as “Prince Adolar Gilka with accompaniment”.
The painter Lajos von Geletniky feels himself to be the fiancé of the dancer Mimi. He heard that his bride was supposed to have been kidnapped by a certain Adolar Gilka and that the kidnapper was expected in the hotel "Zum Schwarzen Adler" in the near future. When he sees the supposed prince, he wants to beat him up. August Fliederbusch only succeeds with difficulty in appeasing the angry painter.
Suddenly a magnificent carriage drives up in front of the hotel, which attracts everyone's attention. The real Prince Gilka, the dancer Mimi and the two lieutenants Rudi and Mucki climb out of her. Adolar Gilka has made an appointment here with a jeweler whose workshop he has commissioned to make a cheap imitation of his valuable necklace in order to give it to Mimi. When he sees August Fliederbusch coming with the necklace, he takes him for the jeweler. The tramp does not hesitate long, hands the chain to Miss Mimi and very politely asks the completely bewildered prince to send him the reward as soon as possible. The dream of a big finder's reward is suddenly destroyed, because now of all times Assessor Roland arrives at the hotel with the bailiff Kampel. The two ensure that the alleged thieves see nothing of the reward. August Fliederbusch and his wife have to go into hiding again.
The lake smiles; he's taking a bath, think the two lieutenants. They take off their uniforms and rush into the waters. The Fliederbusch couple sees the brightly colored uniforms and cannot resist adopting them. With the new camouflage it is easier for them to go about their "craft".
Second act
Image: Festively illuminated castle park
Prince Adolar Gilka is only worried about how he could succeed in removing Mimi's necklace again without his relationship with her suffering as a result. He manages to track down the two lilac bushes. He thinks the two are so sophisticated that they are meant to function as tools in his plan. After he gave them the order and assured them that it would only be for their benefit if they played along, August and Berta Fliederbusch appear as magicians at the summer festival in the castle park. They manage to pull people under their spell with a few sleight of hand. Berta asks Mimi to give her the necklace for a short time. When it is in their possession, she swaps it for the imitation and gives it back to the perky person.
The longer the performance, the more sympathy the prince feels for the tramp couple. He is already planning to engage the two “artists” in similar festivals in the future. At Assessor Roland he gets the arrest warrant withdrawn. At the end of the operetta it turns out that the prince himself had fallen for a deceiver when he bought the pearl necklace; because even the supposed original is only a worthless replica.
Musical highlights
The very popular, slightly sentimental work comes up with an abundance of flattering melodies. The best known are the duet of the two lieutenants Rudi and Mucki Das ist der Zauber der Montur , the waltz song of the court assessor Roland in the first finale Be praised, you cozy night, made two hearts so happy , and finally another duet between Rudi and Mucki Was Whatever the day brought us .
However, Carl Michael Ziehrer never wanted to admit that the melody he presented to the waltz song Be praised, you cozy night ... is audibly a plagiarism of Johann Strauss Sohn 's head waltz von Spiralen (Waltz, op. 209). The original waltz by Strauss (Sohn) was composed in 1858, more than 40 years earlier, and as a military musician was sufficiently well known to him as a successful but forgotten piece in the 1890s.
Further processing
A revision made after 1899 by the director of the Lehartheater Ignaz Brantner could not prevail. In the new version of Brantner, the operetta is set in the Wachau (Austria) and Vienna between 1900 and 1914.
filming
The play was made into a film in 1937 under the direction of Carl Lamac based on a script by Géza von Cziffra . The main roles were played by Paul Hörbiger , Lucie Englisch , Rudolf Carl , Erika Drusovich and Rudolf Platte . The music could not be heard in the original version by Carl Michael Ziehrer; it was played in an arrangement by Paul Hühn. According to the lexicon of international films, it is an "old-fashioned comedy at a brisk pace based on motifs from Carl Ziehrer's operetta of the same name". The operetta was also filmed twice for television, in 1960 for ORF and in 1968 as a co-production by ZDF and ORF.
Web links
- Die Landstreicher (Ziehrer, Karl Michael) : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Overview of all music numbers and performance locations
- The tramps , operetten-lexikon.info
Individual evidence
- ↑ Johann Strauss II. - Spiralen, Waltz Op. 209 on YouTube
- ^ The tramps (1937) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ^ The tramps (1960) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ Die Landstreicher (1968) in the Internet Movie Database (English)