Singspiel in 2 acts
Text by Johann Gottlieb Stephanie d.J.
First performed July 11 1786, Burgtheater, Vienna
Sung in German with German surtitles
Introductory talks (in German) begin in the Bockenheimer Depot 30 mins before curtain up and will appear here shortly after opening night
There's a chamber music concert at 11am on March 23 inspired by this work.
Conductor Alden Gatt / Lukas Rommelspacher
Dr Krautmann Thomas Faulkner
Stössel, the Pharmacist Božidar Smiljanić
Claudia, his Wife Kelsey Lauritano
Leonore Elizabeth Reiter
Rosalie Lubov Karetnikova
Gotthold Michael Porter
Sichel Andrew Bidlack
Captain Sturmwald Peter Marsh
Krähahn (crowing cock), a Comedian Sakhiwe Mkosana°
°Member of the Opera Studio
Pharmacist Stößel and Doctor Krautmann have been enemies for donkey’s years. Claudia, the Pharmacist’s wife, wants to marry her daughter off »properly« and thinks Captain Sturmwald, an amputee, would make an ideal husband. When the Pharmacist finds out that his daughter’s in love with Gotthold, the Doctor’s son, he schedules her marriage to Sturmwald for the next day. Gotthold, on his way to Leonore, bumps into his friend Sichel, who Rosalie, the Pharmacist’s niece wants to see. They lure the Pharmacist out of the house on a pretext and go inside. Sturmwald saw everything. Gotthold brings Leonore a marriage contract. The young couples plan their weddings, waking up the Pharmacist’s wife in the process. Both Romeos hide. Stößel and Sturmwald appear, drunk as skunks, something’s amiss and it’s thought thieves are in the house. Stößel decides to lock the house. Everyone says good night. To be on the safe side Claudia sends Rosalie to her room and decides to stay the night with Leonore. Sturmwald declares himself ready to stand guard – and falls asleep. Act 2 Doctor Krautmann refuses to treat a patient who went to see Pharmacist Stößel. Sichel and Gotthold have dressed up as Sturmwald and a notary. The Stößels are hoodwinked by the signatures, and the wedding’s carried out quickly. The young couple and Rosalie manage to escape before the real Captain Sturmwald wakes up and demands his rights. Claudia sees through the trick. Dr Krautmann announces that the patient Stößel treated, has died. Now, at last, he can accuse the hated Pharmacist of quackery and threatens to press charges. Stößel blames Krautmann for Gotthold’s abduction of his daughter and threatens to sue him too. On Claudia’s advice both adversaries settle their differences. It’s just as Claudia said: Women should make their own choices in the future!
Doctor Krautmann and Stössel, the pharmacist, are deadly enemies. That their children have fallen in love, doesn’t help matters at all ...
These fathers are German counterparts to Cimarosa and Rossini’s funny old men, who steal the show with wit and situation comedy. Even more so than Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Dittersdorf’s Doctor and Pharmacist marks an important turning point in the history in German opera-cum-plays. It resulted in three further commissions for von Dittersdorf, who’s all but forgotten today. This composer, violin virtuoso and contemporary of Mozart was internationally admired, not just in Viennese circles. He combined elements of north German Singspiel in his works with the tradition, wit and vocal virtuosity of Italian opera seria and buffa. He composed light-hearted music which, married to his hearty sense of humour, went down well with audiences. This, his best known work, was commissioned by the Emperor and the manager of the Burgtheater in Vienna, the librettist Johann Gottlieb Stephanie.
