Opera Plots I - MDC Faculty Home Pages

match, unable to conquer her passion, she escapes from home, and joins the troupe of players, of
which Friedrich is the leader. Complications soon arise, when a handsome Countess also falls in
love with Friedrich, and manages to steal Vevenas talisman, by means of which she succeeds in
getting him into her snares. Meanwhile, her husband, the Count, is attracted by the beautiful
Vevena, and he invites Friedrich and his company to perform in the Castle. Here he finds
opportunity to persecute Vevena with his unwelcome attentions, offering her wealth as his
mistress; and, when she refuses, he attempts to use force, upon which she turns upon him with her
dagger, and wounds him. Trutz, a member of the company, who also loves Vevena, comes to her
rescue; and, in order to save her from the consequences of her act, he declares that it was he who
stabbed the Count. Not waiting to be seized, however, he hurries away, taking with him the
talisman, which he has managed to get out of the Countesss possession, and which he now flings
into a lake. A fairy form immediately rises from the water, and floats away into the sky with the
talisman; and, at the same time, the Goblin appears, uttering cries of woe, since he thinks his doom
will never be averted, now that the talisman has gone. The sacrifice he requires, however, is very
shortly consummated, and by the maiden he had fixed upon.
In Act 3 Trutz is hunted by the retainers of the Count, who set fire to the apartments of the players,
and a scrimmage follows, during which Friedrich engages in a hand-to-hand fight with one of the
retainers, who quickly overcomes him. Seeing the man she loves is in danger Vevena flings
herself between the struggling pair and receives the death-blow intended for Friedrich. She falls
dead at his feet; and having thus sacrificed herself for one she loves, she has unwittingly fulfilled
the request of the Goblin, who is now freed from his curse.
193. THE AMBER WITCH
Romantic Opera in Four Acts By William Vincent Wallace (Adapted from Dr Meinholds
Romance of same name)
First Produced London, 1861
Chief Characters Mary, Elsie, Rudiger (Lord of Raven-stein), The Commandant, The Pastor,
Claus, The King
THE scene of this opera is laid in Coserow, a small town in Pomerania, during the fifteenth
century. The town is visited by a famine, and whilst many of the people are suffering from hunger
there is yet food in plenty in the house of the old Pastor, whose fair young daughter, Mary, has
discovered an amber vein on the wild Streckelberg hill, and who, by selling this, gains sufficient
money to buy food for her own household and for the poor whom she feeds. She will not reveal
the secret of her source of wealth, and the neighbours become jealous. Elsie, a servant in the
employ of the Commandant of the town, hates the gentle Mary, who has won the admiration of her
master, who desires to make her his paramour, and the pair concoct a scheme for getting Mary
accused of witchcraft-such superstition being firmly believed in in those days-so that she may fall
into the Commandants hands. Their cruel plans are, however, overheard by an honest, but halfwitted,
postman, who resolves to save the innocent girl from her enemies. Mary meanwhile has
met Rudiger, the young Count of Ravenstein, who has rescued her father from wayside ruffians,
and seeks a nights lodging at their house in return; and the pair fall in love. Rudiger, however, has
a tyrant father, who ill-treats him, and since he will never consent to their union the lovers are only