Doctor and pharmacist

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Work data
Title: Doctor and pharmacist
Shape: Singspiel
Original language: German
Music: Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf
Libretto : Johann Gottlieb Stephanie the Younger
Literary source: "L'apothicaire de Murcie"
Premiere: July 11, 1786
Place of premiere: Vienna
Playing time: approx. 2 ¼ hours
Place and time of the action: German small town at the end of the 18th century
people
  • Apothecary Pestle ( Bass )
  • Claudia, his wife ( soprano )
  • Leonore, daughter of both (soprano)
  • Rosalie, Stößel's niece (soprano)
  • Doctor Krautmann (bass)
  • Gotthold, his son ( tenor )
  • Sturmwald, an invalid captain (tenor)
  • Sickle, surgeon (tenor)
  • A Police Commissioner (Bass)
  • Gallus, servant of a patient (tenor)
  • Marx, apprentice pharmacist (silent role)

Doctor and Pharmacist is a musical play in two acts by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf . The libretto is by Johann Gottlieb Stephanie the Elder. J. It is based on the French comedy L'apothicaire de Murcie by an anonymous G. v. N. The work had its world premiere on July 11, 1786 at the K. u. K. National Theater in Vienna . It brought the composer his greatest success and is considered his masterpiece.

action

first act

Image: House of the pharmacist Stößel with garden and arbor

The pharmacist Stößel, his wife Claudia, their daughter Leonore, Stößel's niece Rosalie and Captain Sturmwald sit in the gazebo in the evening. The latter lost an eye and a leg in the war. Because he is wealthy, the pharmacist Stößel would like to have him as a son-in-law. Leonore, his only daughter, is in love with Gotthold Krautmann, the son of the local doctor. When Pestle found out about this, he got angry; for the doctor is his greatest adversary in the faculty. In order to save Leonore from something stupid, he sets the wedding for the next day. When Sturmwald has left and the rest of them have retired to the pharmacy, Gotthold and Sichel, who loves Rosalie, come to the house. The two have teamed up to kidnap the two girls. First of all, however, it is necessary to lure the old man out of the house. This happens when Sichel pretends to be the valet of a count's patient, flatters the pharmacist on his great art and asks him to immediately provide his master with good medicine. The pharmacist and his apprentice Marx are about to go to see the patient. Then Sichel and Gotthold climb into the house through the shop window. However, they are watched by Storm Forest, which has returned.

Metamorphosis - Image: Room in the pharmacy

The whispering young people woke up the pharmacist's wife. Already she comes in her nightgown to check that everything is okay. Gotthold and Sichel flee to the laboratory. In the meantime, Stößel returns from his nightly visit to the sick, Sturmwald in tow. They excitedly report to Claudia that there must be thieves in the house. Everyone goes to bed except Storm Forest. With his vast military experience, he is destined to stand guard. Because of his high alcohol consumption, however, he soon falls asleep. Gottwald and Sichel carry him to the laboratory, lock the door and open and leave. They take Sturmwald's clothes with them.

Second act

Image: Short street

Gallus looks for Doctor Krautmann and meets him on the street. He asks him to come with him immediately. His master is dying. Although the pharmacist Stößel was with him for a short time last night and administered him some medicine, it made everything much worse. Knowing full well that the patient can no longer be helped, the doctor explains that he cannot follow him now because he has to make a more urgent visit to the sick. Secretly, Krautmann is happy that the pharmacist intervened because it would now be said that Stößel has the patient on his conscience.

Metamorphosis - Image: Room in Stößel's house

On the following day, Gotthold and Sichel, disguised as a notary, in Sturmwald's clothing and mask, came to Stößel early in the morning. Sichel insists that the marriage contract be signed quickly. Leonore feels taken by surprise and at first doesn't even think about signing. But when she saw through the game of the two men, she put her name under the document. Sichel orders the “notary” to lead the girls to the bridal breakfast he has ordered.

Meanwhile, Storm Forest has woken up. His swearing comes from the laboratory. Stößel believes it was broken into. As he sets about unlocking the door to his sanctuary, Sichel escapes into Rosalie's room, disguises himself as a woman and leaves the house.

Metamorphosis - Image: Short Street

Stößel and Krautmann meet and get into an argument. Each accuses the other of being a charlatan.

Metamorphosis - Image: Garden

Everyone involved meets in the garden. The result is a terrible hubbub, in the course of which the doctor and the pharmacist are reconciled, so that in the end two happy newlyweds can look forward to their early marriage.

music

Doctor and Pharmacist is a number opera with dialogues spoken between the arias . The melodies are very popular and are easy to understand for the listener. The musical highlights include the grand finals

  • the aria of the sickle, which was already heard in the overture. If you want to go to the girl, be happy and cheerful ,
  • Sturmwald's aria, which highlights his joy in drinking The wine is a specific for a lively spirit and fresh energy ,
  • Krautmann's performance song A Doctor is, by my honor, the greatest man in the state! , in which he praises himself (a precursor of van Bett's aria O sancta Justitia from Albert Lortzing's Zar und Zimmermann ), and
  • Sturmwald's aria in the second act How do you deal with soldiers? - Ha, potz bombs and grenades ,
  • the funny duet between Krautmann and Gallus Vermaledeit is this deal, the whole doctor's shop is haze! and finally
  • the quarrel between doctor and pharmacist You are a charlatan, an ignoramus! shortly before the finale, the highlight of the opera.

literature

  • Doctor and pharmacist , introduced and textually revised by Wilhelm Zentner, Verlag Philipp Reclam jun. Stuttgart, Universal Library No. 4090 (1961)

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