Symon Symonovicz, the beggar student.
Janitsky, his friend.
Gen. Ollendorf, military governor of Krakow.
Enterich, }
Puffki, } jailers.
Major Holtzheim.
Sitzky, an innkeeper.
Countess Palmatica.
Laura, }
Bronislava, } her daughters.
Eva.
Ononphrie.
Lieut. Poppenburg.
Lieut. Schmeinitz.
Lieut. Wangerheim.
Burgomaster.
Bogumil.
[Prisoners, peasants, soldiers, musicians, courtiers, etc.]
The scene is laid in Krakow; time, the year 1704.
The first act of this tuneful opera opens in the city of Krakow. General
Ollendorf, the military governor, is in a rage because he has been
repulsed by Laura, daughter of the Countess Palmatica, to whom he has
showed some unwelcome attentions. To avenge what he considers an insult,
he conceives the idea of dressing some poor and low-born young fellow in
the finery of a prince, and passing him off as such upon the Countess and
her daughter, trusting that their poverty will induce them to accept the
impostor. After such a marriage his revenge would be complete. He finds
his accomplice in the military prison. Symon Symonovicz, a vagabond
Polish student, is ready to play the gentleman, and only insists on
taking along with him Janitsky, a fellow prisoner, to act as his
secretary. The plot is successful. The Countess and her daughter, who
have been living for a long time in genteel poverty, are dazzled by the
finery and prospects of the suitor, and the act closes with the betrothal
of Symon and Laura.
In the second act the two find that they are really in love with each
other. As the money furnished by the General is all spent, Symon decides
to tell Laura of the deception practised upon her, though it may cost him
the marriage, which was to have taken place that day. Afraid to tell her
in person, he writes the disclosure, and intrusts the letter to the
Countess with the request to have it given to Laura before the ceremony.
The General, however, thwarts this scheme, and the pair are married,
whereupon he exposes Symon to the assembled guests as an impostor and has
him driven from the palace.
At the opening of the third act Symon appears in melancholy plight and
contemplating suicide. His friend Janitsky, who is in love with Laura's
sister, Bronislava, comes to his rescue. He comes forward as a Polish
officer engaged in a plot for the capture of the citadel and the
reinstatement of King Stanislaus upon the throne of Poland. The plot with
Symon's help succeeds, and in return Symon is not only ennobled, but the
Countess and his wife forgive him, and the governor-general is foiled at
every point.
The principal numbers are Ollendorf's entrance song in waltz time, "And
they say that towards Ladies"; the characteristic duet by Symon and
Janitsky on leaving jail, "Confounded Cell, at last I leave thee"; the
charming entrance trio for Laura, Bronislava, and the Countess, "Some
little Shopping really we ought to do"; and Laura's brilliant song, "But
when the Song is sweetly sounding," in the finale of the first act;
Laura's humorous song, "If Joy in Married Life you'd find"; the
sentimental duet of Bronislava and Janitsky, "This Kiss, Sweet Love";
Ollendorf's grotesque songs, "One Day I was perambulating," and "There in
the Chamber Polish," which is usually adapted as a topical song; and the
long and cleverly concerted finale of the second act: and Bronislava's
song, "Prince a Beggar's said to be," and Symon's couplet, "I'm penniless
and outlawed too," in the third act.
The Black Hussar.
[Opéra comique, in three acts. First produced at Vienna, 1886.]