Albert Lortzing
Gustav Albert Lortzing was born in Berlin on October 23, 1801. His parents were actors compelled to lead an itinerant life which made it impossible for Albert to obtain any systematic education. His mother taught him music, the study of which he later continued briefly in Berlin with Rungenhagen. His first effort at composition consisted of some songs, but in 1824 he completed his first opera, Ali Pascha von Janina. From 1833 to 1844 he was employed as a tenor at the Municipal Theater in Leipzig, for which he wrote the comic opera Die beiden Schuetzen, successfully produced in 1837. He achieved his greatest success the same year with the comic opera, Zar und Zimmermann, which within a few years’ time became a favorite among theater audiences throughout Europe. His later operettas included Der Wildschuetz (The Poacher) in 1842 and Der Waffenschmied (The Armourer) in 1846, while one of his finest romantic operas was Undine in 1845. Lortzing also filled several engagements as conductor of operas and operettas in Leipzig, Vienna and Berlin, and as an opera impresario. He died in Berlin on January 21, 1851, one day after his last opera, Die Opernprobe (The Opera Rehearsal) was introduced in Frankfort.
Lortzing was one of the earliest and most successful exponents of German national comic opera; and Czar and the Carpenter (Zar und Zimmermann) was his masterwork. It was first produced in Leipzig on December 22, 1837. The music is consistently light and tuneful, frequently in the style of German folk songs. The libretto, by the composer, is a delightful comedy based on an actual historic episode: the escapade of Peter the Great of Russia in Holland where he worked as a carpenter. In the Lortzing comic opera, Peter the Great is a carpenter on a ship at Saardam where he meets a compatriot, also named Peter, who is a deserter. Temporarily they become rivals for the affection of Mary. After the arrival of the Ambassadors from France and England to seek out the Emperor, the latter quietly departs for his homeland, leaving behind him both money and an official pardon for the other Peter. The gay spirit of the comic opera as a whole is magically caught not only in its vivacious overture, but in several familiar excerpts. The most notable are: the Burgomaster’s comic entrance song, “O sancta justa”; in the second act, the Wedding Chorus, and the French Ambassador’s beautiful air, “Lebe wohl, mein flandrisch’ Maedchen”; in the third act the vigorous Clog Dance (Holzschutanz), and the very famous air of Czar Peter, “Sonst spielt’ ich mit Zepter.”