FRÜHLING (SPRING)

An operetta in 1 Act by Franz Lehár (1870 - 1948).

Cast

Hedwig: the girl, Soprano
Toni: the girl friend, Soprano
Lorenz: the composer, Tenor
Ewald: the poet, Baritone

Synopsis

A small typing office in the Vienna of the early twenties, the prosaic workaday world of two young shorthand typists, the light-headed Toni, as chance would have it also a soubrette, and the romantic Hedwig, is a more lyrical role. A young man comes into the office. He is a composer who has come to meet his poet friend, the librettist of the operetta that the two have written together. He has just finished the music, and now the libretto is supposed to be typed out, by Hedwig, who is quite taken with the shy composer. By the time the poet who is expected finally comes, however, the composer has already gone. The poet delivers his manuscript to Hedwig and goes off with the stylish Toni to a cafe. Hedwig gets busy with the typing of the libretto and reads it aloud:

'The stage represents a garret in which the musician Lorenz resides. The furnishings are meagre. When the curtain goes up, we find Lorenz sitting at the piano and fantasizing. Lorenz is not the only one who is fantasizing; Hedwig too joins in. Little by little she imagines that she is a character in the action of the operetta that she is typing. The clattering of the typewriter is heard a little while longer but then is drowned out by the piano playing.

There is a rapid change of scene: Now this piano-playing composer by the name of Lorenz is indeed an unusual character. Owing to the housing shortage then in effect, he is sharing the said garret with a girl whom he has never met. When Lorenz goes out at eight o'clock in the evening, his unknown female roommate has not yet come home; and when he returns at eight o'clock in the morning, she is already at work as a fashion model at a clothier's. In the evening the poor composer earns his living at the piano in a night spot with the uninviting name of 'Turkenstubel' [The Turk's Cubby Hole). After the curtain has gone up over the unusual attic room, Lorenz shows his friend Ewald the girl's wardrobe. He seems to be very well informed about its contents and indeed has fallen in love with his unknown roommate through his personal acquaintance with a little piece of batiste [a fine plain-weave piece of cotton or similar fabric used for shirts and dresses]. Since it just happens to be his day off, Ewald suggests that he finally take the opportunity to get to know his enchanting roommate! The shy musician fights the idea tooth and nail. Then the doorbell suddenly rings! Lorenz quickly hides in the bathroom, and Ewald decides to have a little fun. A sweet Viennese girl comes walking in, but she is not the room-mate but only a co-worker from the textile trade. The girl naturally thinks that Ewald is her girlfriend's boyfriend because her girl-friend has always told her that her male room-mate is her boyfriend! Instead of clearing up the misunderstanding, Ewald takes full advantage of it and gets the girl to go out with him for a night on the town. Meanwhile Lorenz has crawled out of his hiding place and thinks that his friend Ewald has stolen his roommate on him. Not even the sweet little shoes in her wardrobe can console him before he is suddenly surprised. Another sweet girl enters the room. Both he and she are stiff with fear! As one might well imagine, she takes him for a burglar - and he? He desperately tries to persuade her that he is the rightful tenant.

After he has succeeded in convincing her, he subjects the poor girl to a gruelling cross-examination about the dainty contents of her wardrobe. It is not until she gives the correct answer that he is sure with whom he is dealing. She is his roommate, his secret love. He falls silent in embarrassment. But keeping his thoughts to himself, as she immediately informs him in, is the worst thing that he can do. Then Ewald and the girlfriend burst in on the intimate tête-à-tête. The general confusion reaches its height. The girlfriend still believes that Ewald is her girlfriend's boyfriend, while the roommate once again thinks that Lorenz must be a burglar. And Lorenz does not know what to make of things. Only Ewald knows the truth. Now the girlfriend accuses the room- mate of having cheated on Ewald with Lorenz. When she denies it and her girlfriend wants to know who her boyfriend is, she has no other choice but to bring forward the dazed Lorenz. Then the good girlfriend realizes that Ewald has lied to her, and all four come to the conclusion that lying begins in nappies. This immediately inspires the two girls to a detailed duet about their work as models. When Ewald and the girlfriend have gone, the poor Lorenz thinks that his charming roommate actually does have another boyfriend.

When he wants to leave the room, the sweet girl makes a surprising confession: Her girlfriend's boundless curiosity and the social pressure requiring that she have a boyfriend to show for herself led her to invent a boyfriend. And who would have been a better candidate than Lorenz, with whom she was already sharing her room! The shy composer is greatly relieved. Enraptured, he wants to give her a big hug. After some resistance, the girl does not want to seem better than the others, but then the glockenspiel sounds the hour, and Lorenz recalls their agreement: He has to leave the room at eight. And after some going back and forth she insists that he do so until the bells ring early in the morning. He has scarcely gone, when she regrets her insistence. But how to get him back without her losing face? She has an idea: she simply sets the clock ahead - until eight o'clock in the morning. The music-box melody has hardly begun playing when Lorenz appears at the door, where he has been waiting with immense longing. He takes her into his passionate embrace and showers her with kisses:- Lorenz; You! You! - The stage dims [Curtain]. The clattering of the typewriters breaks off.

Back in the typing office, Hedwig has finished typing the operetta. And is in complete raptures. After all, she has relived the action of the operetta, of course as the girl showered with kisses at the end. As is hardly a secret, the passionate kisser Lorenz was none other than the composer, her fellow typist Toni, was the girlfriend, and the dashing librettist was Ewald. Four persons were in search of an operetta, and at least two of them have found perfect bliss. It is as if scales have fallen from Hedwig's eyes: She loves the composer even now, in so-called real life. At this moment of insight, the door opens and who steps in? The librettist, who very prosaically wants to pick up his text. In the company of the dreamy Hedwig, however, he suddenly becomes poetic and gallantly invites her out to eat. But Hedwig is not in the least interested! She now knows to whom she belongs, namely to the composer. She lets the poet be a poet and makes off without further ado into her rose-colored dream world. The librettist, not used to such refusals, is left alone with his spring-time feelings. The one-sided happy ending in favour of the composer is confirmed in an old adage: 'Nobody weaves crowns for the librettist, his work remains hidden in the whole'.

The composer gets the credit - but when it's a flop, the writers are to blame. All the same, even the greatest composers would be god forsaken without librettists!