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Of Mushrooms and Lilac Blossom

Introduction[1]

This long and detailed article is about the Schubertian operetta Das Dreimäderlhaus, and the numerous versions and further adaptations of it from German into other languages, especially the American and English versions, Blossom Time and Lilac Time. These operettas have been attacked from the very beginning by Schubertian scholars[2], not only for the fictitious stories with their superficial, misleading and sentimentalised portrayal of Schubert's character, but also because they dared to adapt Schubert melodies. We shall discuss the history of these operettas and connected works, the plots, the original music used and their adaptations, and finally return to the critical assessment. The article is split up into a number of smaller sections, which may be reached from the drop down menu, the menu bar at the left, or the set of links at the bottom of each page:

History
The Plots

 Films
Schubert Music Used

 Critical Assesment
Performance Review

Recordings and Videos
Memorabilia

The article is based upon, though somewhat expanded from, an illustrated talk and associated exhibition given at two SIUK 'Schubert Days', and the written version of that talk that appeared in our journal, The Schubertian.

Note that the Ohio Light Opera ( the resident professional company of the College of Wooster) have a series of performances of Das Dreimäderlhaus (in a new English translation) scheduled for the summer of 2002. Follow the link to their website for more information. I attended the opening performance, and a review is on another page.

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A drawing of Das Dreimäderlhaus by Alfred Keller
From the book Schwammerl, by
Rudolf Hans Bartsch
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Auf der Mölkerbastei
Illustration by Grete Brzezowsky
From Der Liederfürst Franz Schubert
by A. Herget
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The Dreimäderlhaus (Schreyvogelgasse 10)
On the Mölkerbastei in Vienna
A photograph by the author, Spring 2000
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Courtyard of the Dreimäderlhaus
from a postcard
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A still from the 1958 Das Dreimäderlhaus film.
The film shows the party, including Schubert and the Tschöll sisters
leaving the Dreimäderlhaus in a carriage for a picnic

Notes

[1] The author would like to thank all those people who helped in the preparation of this paper, in particular, the KirchGruppe for supplying a copy of the 1958 Das Dreimäderlhaus film, Daniel O'Hara and Nigel Nettheim for assistance with recordings, and Nicholas Rast for numerous individual instances of assistance with research.
[2] For example, Paul Marsop in Kunstwart 30/1916, attacked Das Dreimäderlhaus as a 'defamation of Franz Schubert'.