Opera Plots I - MDC Faculty Home Pages

temptations and difficulties. Both are eager for reconciliation; and Oberon sends out his merry
sprite, Puck, over the world, to seek the wonderful pair of lovers he requires. Puck comes back
with news of the noble knight, Huon, who, having been insulted by Carloman, the son of
Charlemagne, has slain him in single combat, for which deed the Emperor has condemned him to
proceed to Bagdad and there to slay the favourite minister, and to wed the Caliphs daughter,
Reiza. Oberon immediately determines to use these two young people for his ends; and he causes
each to appear to the other in a vision, and to fall in love with one another. He then visits Huon,
and bestows on him a magic horn, with which he can always summon the Fairy King to his
assistance, and compel merriment; and to his armour-bearer, Scherasmin, he gives a magic cup,
which fills with wine at pleasure and also reveals treachery by issuing forth flames when put to the
lips of a traitor. Huon and his servants are now transported to Bagdad, where in Act 2 they are
found performing many marvellous acts by means of their magic gifts. The Caliphs favourite,
Prince Barbekan, is about to marry his royal masters lovely daughter, Reiza, who hates him, all her
love being given to Huon, of whose coming to Bagdad she soon learns from her maid, Fatima.
Huon makes acquaintance with Barbekan, whom he puts to test by means of his magic cup, which
issues forth flames as his lips touch it, and so proclaims him to be a traitor and evil-doer. The
gallant knight therefore challenges him to fight, and slays him. He is thereupon attacked by the
Caliphs soldiers; but Scherasmin promptly blows upon the fairy horn, which immediately plays
such merry tunes that the soldiers cannot refrain from dancing, during which revels Huon and
Reiza escape together, being closely followed by Scherasmin and Fatima, the two latter having
also fallen in love with one another. As they make their escape, Oberon again appears to the happy
pair, making them promise to remain faithful to each other through every danger and temptation;
and having secured their promise, he proceeds to put them to the test. The four fugitives board a
vessel, which is presently shipwrecked; and Reiza is rescued by pirates, who sell her as a slave to
the Emir of Tunis, who puts her in his harem and vainly sues for her love. In Act 3 Scherasmin
and Fatima are found as workers in the garden of the Emir, to whom they also have been sold by
the pirates who captured them; and here they are presently joined by Huon. And now the lovers
are exposed to many temptations; and their fidelity is put to very severe tests. The handsome Huon
attracts the attention of the Emirs Eastern wife, Roscha.na, who sends for him and endeavours to
win his love by exercising all her wiles and lures of fascination upon him; but finding him
steadfast in his refusal of her favours, and discovering that he loves the hated new slave in her
lords harem, she is filled with rage and accuses him to the Emir as having tried to force her to
accept him as her lover. Upon this, the unhappy Huon is condemned to be burned alive by order of
the Emir, who, also being enraged by Reizas resistance to his own love-making, condemns her to
be burned with him. The lovers are, however, rescued by Oberon, who appears when Scherasmin,
fearful for his masters life, blows the magic horn. The Fairy King appears with his lovely Queen,
Titania, to whom he is now reconciled owing to the constancy of the lovers he has put to the test;
and he now transports the four exiles to Charlemagnes Court, where the gallant Knight, Huon,
receives the pardon of the Emperor, and is united to his beloved Reiza. Scherasmin and Fatima are
also united; and the opera ends with joyous revels.
199. PRECIOSA
Romantic Opera in Four Acts By Carl Maria Von Weber
Libretto By Pius Alexander Wolff