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ACT I. Vienna, 1890s. Through the windows
of the Eisenstein home floats the serenade of Alfred, a tenor still in
love with his old flame Rosalinde, now the wife of Gabriel von Eisenstein.
Adele, a chambermaid, saunters in reading an invitation to a masked ball;
Rosalinde, bedeviled by a headache and believing she has heard Alfred's
voice, enters but finds only Adele. The maid asks for the evening off to
visit a "sick aunt," a plea her mistress dismisses. Alfred steps into the
room and begins to woo Rosalinde, who resists his verbal blandishments
but melts on hearing his high A. The suitor leaves as Eisenstein and his
lawyer, Blind, arrive from a session in court: Eisenstein has been sentenced
to a fortnight in jail for a civil offense. No sooner does he dismiss the
incompetent advocate than his friend Falke comes to invite Eisenstein to
a masquerade, suggesting he bring along his repeater stop-watch, which
charms all the ladies, so he can accumulate pleasant memories to sustain
him during his confinement in jail. Rosalinde joins Adele in a bittersweet
farewell to Eisenstein before he goes off to prison, got up, to his wife's
surprise, in full evening dress. Sending Adele to her "aunt," Rosalinde
receives the ardent Alfred. Their tête-à-tête is interrupted
by the warden Frank, who mistakes Alfred for the man he has come to arrest.
Rosalinde persuades Alfred to save her name by posing as her husband, and
Frank carts him off to jail.
ACT II. In an antechamber at the palace
of Prince Orlofsky, the nobleman's guests, Adele and her cousin Ida among
them, await the arrival of their host. Orlofsky enters, quite bored — even
with Falke's promise of a comedy of errors. The prince proclaims his guests
free to do anything that suits their fancy — "Chacun à son gout."
Adele, dressed in one of Rosalinde's most elegant gowns, laughs off Eisenstein's
suggestion that she resembles his wife's chambermaid. Frank enters, and
Rosalinde, also invited by Falke, arrives disguised as a temperamental
Hungarian countess; she is soon wooed by her own reeling husband, whose
pocket watch she steals to hold as proof of his philandering. Rosalinde
agrees to sing a song about her "native" land, a spirited czardas, after
which the guests move on to a magnificent dining area to toast the joys
of wine, good fellowship and love. Champagne flows, and the guests dance
wildly until dawn. When the clock strikes six, Eisenstein staggers off
to keep his appointment at the jail.
ACT III. Moments later at the prison, Frosch,
a drunken jailer, tries to keep order among the inmates, who are unable
to sleep because of Alfred's singing. Frank arrives, still giddy with champagne,
followed shortly by Ida and Adele, who, thinking him a theatrical agent,
believes he might further her stage aspirations. Frank, hearing someone
at the door, hides the girls in a cell and then admits Eisenstein, who
has come to begin his sentence. The new prisoner is surprised to learn
his cell is already occupied by a man who claims to be Eisenstein and who
was found supping with Rosalinde; to obtain an explanation from the impostor,
Eisenstein snatches a legal robe and wig from his astonished lawyer. No
sooner is he disguised than Rosalinde hurries in to secure Alfred's release
and press divorce charges against her errant husband. With her would-be
paramour, she confides her flirtation to the "lawyer." Enraged, Eisenstein
removes his disguise and accuses his wife of promiscuity, at which Rosalinde
whips forth the watch she took from him at the ball. Orlofsky and his guests
arrive to celebrate the reconciliation of Rosalinde and Eisenstein, singing
a final toast as Eisenstein is taken away.
-- courtesy of Opera News |
http://www.metopera.org/synopses/dieflede.html