Opera Plots I - MDC Faculty Home Pages

moment,. the angry Nilakantha appears; but as the supposed wrath of his gods is appeased by one
victim, he permits Gerald and his friends to depart, and remains alone to mourn his dead.
37. THE DAUGHTER OF THE REGIMENT
Opera Comique in Two Acts By Gaetano Donizetti
Libretto By St Georges and Bayard
First Produced Opéra Comique, Paris, Feb., 1840
Chief Characters Marie, Marchioness de Berkenfeld, Tony, Sergeant Sulpice
THE scene is laid in the Tyrol, where the French army is in occupation. Marie, a young vivandière
attached to the Twenty-first Grenadiers, and toasted by them as " The Daughter of the Regiment,"
is believed to be an orphan, having been discovered when a tiny child upon the battlefield by
Sergeant Sulpice, who took her in charge, he and his companions adopting her and bringing her up
as their pet. The Sergeant, however, carefully preserves a letter which he found affixed to the
child's clothes when he took her in charge, and which is addressed to the Marchioness de
Berkenfeld. At the opening of the opera Marie is seen, a merry young vivandière, happy in her free
life, and the darling of her many soldier " fathers," who all adore her. She has a sweetheart, a
young Swiss named Tony, who has recently saved her life; and at the opening of the opera he has
come to visit her. At first the Grenadiers take him for a spy; but on Marie explaining that he has
saved her life, they gladly welcome him, and persuade him to join their ranks. On hearing that he
loves their beloved "daughter," at the entreaties of Marie they give their consent to the betrothal of
the pair; but this happy plan is frustrated by the arrival of a stranger, who is none other than the
Marchioness de Berkenfeld, to whom Sergeant Sulpice hands the letter he had found on the
deserted child. The Marchioness is filled with emotion on reading the letter, and an-nounces that
Marie is her own niece, who had been lost in infancy; and she therefore claims her from the
regiment, refuses the humble Tony as an unsuitable husband, and declares that Marie shall
accompany her to her château at once. Tony is in despair, but he cannot follow his sweetheart
because he has joined the regiment and is bound to serve with them; and Marie, after taking a
tearful farewell of her beloved soldier friends, is taken away by her new relation. In Act 2 Marie is
seen in her aunt's château, attired as a fine young lady, and instructed in music and every
fashionable accomplishment; but her heart is still with her old friends, and on receiving a visit
from Sergeant Sulpice, she sings the old regimental songs with him, thereby greatly shocking her
prim aunt. The Marchioness has arranged a marriage for her with a foolish young nobleman; and,
after a great struggle, Marie is at last forced to consent, though her heart is still with her old
sweetheart, Tony. At this moment, how ever, there is a sound of drums and fifes; and Marie is
delighted to find that it is her beloved regiment, the Twenty-first, coming to see how their "
daughter " is progressing. At their head is Tony, now a colonel, having risen rapidly by his gallant
behaviour during the war; and after a loving greeting between the pair, the young colonel once
more asks her hand in marriage, feeling that his new rank justifies such an action. The
Marchioness, however, still refuses to permit her niece to wed one below her own rank; and when
Marie refuses to obey her commands, and is arranging to elope with Tony, her stern guardian
reveals to her the fact that she is in reality her own daughter, being the offspring of a marriage she
contracted in early youth with an officer much below her in social rank, a mésalliance which she
has kept hidden from all her relations and friends, the young man having died soon after their