The Chaste Susanne (Operetta)
| Work data | |
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| Title: | The chaste Susanne |
| Shape: | operetta |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Jean Gilbert |
| Libretto : | Georg Okonkowski, Alfred Schönfeld and Robert Gilbert |
| Literary source: | Fils à Papa by Antony Mars and Maurice Desvallières |
| Premiere: | February 26, 1910 |
| Place of premiere: | Magdeburg |
| Playing time: | about two hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Berlin around 1900 |
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Die chaste Susanne is an operetta in three acts by Jean Gilbert based on a libretto by Georg Okonkowski and Alfred Schönfeld . The text is based on the French comedy Fils à Papa by Antony Mars and Maurice Desvallières. The operetta had its world premiere on February 26, 1910 at the Wilhelm Theater in Magdeburg ; the German title is associated with the biblical figure, the chaste Susanna in the bath . Robert Gilbert , the composer's son, redesigned the work in 1953, both textually and musically. For example, he moved the plot from Paris to Berlin. This article deals with this new version.
orchestra
Two flutes , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , a guitar , a celesta , a harp , large percussion and strings .
action
first act
Image: hall
On the occasion of his elevation to the nobility, Baron Conrad von Felseneck held a party in his villa. His wife is the chairman of the local Tusneldabund , which has made moral discipline its motto. The virtue prize donated by the association is being awarded for the first time today . The choice fell on Susanne Fleuron, who came from Eisenach with her husband. The award is associated with the honorary title “Die chaste Susanne”. Actually, the so distinguished does not meet the requirements which the statutes of the association demand of her; because Susanne is a very fun-loving woman and doesn’t let anything get lost in amorous things.
The Felseneck couple's children, who have just outgrown puberty, are also highly repugnant of their parents' moral behavior. Pauline has secretly got engaged to René Wildhagen, and her brother Paul is keen to gain first practical experience with women. René seizes the opportunity and asks the baron for his daughter's hand. Felseneck, however, knows the young bon vivant all too well and rejects him. Finally, the two some effect that Felseneck will approve the engagement when it should succeed René him red-handed in an Affair to catch.
René does not hesitate long to implement his plan. He ensures that a lady gives Felseneck the invitation to the “Palais de Dance”. The baron is not a stranger there, having secretly spent a few hours in this establishment several times. At the end of the party, he sneaks out of the house. Soon after, the other guests follow him. Only the chairman of the Tusneldabund remains in the villa.
Second act
Image: In the "Palais de Dance"
In the nightspot, Felseneck soon identified a Lady Rosa as the sender of the ominous letter and immediately started dating her. The old philanderer , has no idea that she is the wife of his friend Hintz Meyer and earlier a certain period than the establishment Animierdame worked. Susanne Fleuron teaches the young Felseneck a lesson in seduction in a separate room . René of course catches his future father-in-law in an awkward position and thus forces his consent to marry his daughter. Head waiter Krause is silenced with money.
Third act
Image: Salon
The next day all those involved meet again in Felseneck's villa. Each assures the other that his visit to the “Palais de Dance” was for study purposes only, in order to be able to take better action against the vice afterwards. So appearances are preserved. But when the company notices that Ms. von Felseneck has hired a new butler and this turns out to be the former head waiter from the “Palais de Dance”, some of them still feel guilty. The excitement, however, is unfounded, because Krause has learned in his many years of service that it is only an advantage for him to exercise discretion.
music
Even if the operetta was launched in Magdeburg, it is still a typical Berlin operetta in which the marching songs dominate. For the new version, the composer's son also used a few songs by his father from his less successful operettas, in order to save them from being forgotten. A popular were Yes, the girls have so much , Puppchen, you are of my eye , if the father with the son of the evening goes on the spree and the waltz When the feet rise and float .
Film adaptations
The operetta has already been filmed several times, not only in the country in which it was created ( 1926 and 1972), but also in Argentina (1945), in Spain (1963) and in France (1937). More information is available from the web links.
literature
- Hellmuth Steger, Karl Howe: Operettenführer. From Offenbach to musicals. 1st edition, Fischer Bücherei No. 225, Frankfurt am Main / Hamburg 1958.
- Anton Würz : Reclam's operetta guide . 23rd edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-15-010512-9 .