Of Mushrooms and Lilac Blossom

The Plots

Das Dreimäderlhaus

The Plot is a love story - of the love-won-and-then-lost variety. It is set in Spring, 1826. Schubert is a poor composer who lodges in a typical old Viennese house with a courtyard. Ferdinand Binder (a postmaster) and Andreas Brunedas (a saddler) lodge in the same house. In the first act, they are visited by three sisters, Hederl, Haiderl and Hannerl Tschöll, daughters of the court glass maker. Hederl and Haiderl have come to visit their sweethearts, Binder and Brunedas, and Hannerl is acting as their chaperone. Schubert is visited by his friends Vogl, Kupelwieser, Schwind and Baron Franz von Schober. Christian Tschöll arrives looking for his daughters, but Schubert's friends ply him with drink at a table underneath a Lilac tree in the courtyard, and convince him to accept the engagements of his daughters. Hannerl becomes Schubert's singing pupil, and they slowly fall in love, but are too shy to say anything to each other.

[Note that Vogl, Schwind, Kupelwieser and Schober were all real friends of Schubert: follow the links for more information on them from the personalia. All the other characters are fictional (despite programmes for Blossom Time describing Bellabrunna and Count Scharntoff as real - if they were they had no connection to Schubert), though they may, perhaps, have been based on real characters.]

The second act is set in Tschöll's house, at the double wedding of Hederl and Haiderl a couple of months later. Schubert and his friends are all invited. Giuditta Grisi arrives. She is an actress who is Schober's jealous mistress. She is convinced that he is seeing another woman, and decides that it must be Hannerl. She warns Hannerl to avoid "the philandering Franz". Schubert, too shy to declare his love to Hannerl, has written a song for her (Ungeduld from Die schöne Müllerin). He asks Schober to sing it to her, on his behalf. Thinking that Grisi's warning is about Schubert, Hannerl falls for Schober.

The third act is set in the Prater the following morning. The parties all meet: the complications of the plot involving threats of duels and mistaken identities are sorted out as Schubert stands aside to ensure that Hannerl will be happy with Schober, leaving him with just his music for comfort...

Chanson d'amour

The French plot had its own little twists. As usual many names were changed: The three maids became Jeannette, Nanette and Annette, and their surname was changed to Mühl. Giuditta Grisi became Carlina, and Schober was only identified as 'Le Baron Franz'. Bruneder became Brunel, and Kupelwieser was shortened to Kupel. The third act is not set in the Prater, but in the grounds of Schönbrunn palace. The ending, however, is changed significantly: Annette refuses to marry Schober, and asks Schubert to continue their music lessons, raising his hopes…

Blossom Time

Donnelly, of course, could not resist changing the names. The girls became Fritzi, Kitzi and Mitzi Kranz, Bruneder became Robert Erkman, Ferdinand Binder became Carl, Grisi became 'La Bellabruna' and Kupelwieser was wrongly spelled, and had become a poet! She also changed some settings: the first act was now set in Domeyer's in the Prater, the second at the Kranz home and the third act in Schubert's lodgings.

Donnelly also made significant changes to the plot. The basic story is still recognisable, but the detail is much changed, and often in very questionable taste. The much quoted fable of Schubert writing Ständchen ("Horch! horch ! die Lerch' ", D889) on a 'bill of fare' in the beer garden of an inn is gratuitously inserted into the first act (indeed, it is almost certainly the reason for the change of scene). However, the joke is on them: the Ständchen that they set at this point is the wrong one ("Leise flehen meine Lieder" - D957/4)! He writes the song because he has been paid to do so by Count Scharntoff, who wants to give it (as his own work) to his wife, La Bellabruna, who is in love with Schober. Schubert and his friends meet Fritzi and Kitzi who are out with their sweethearts, with Mitzi as chaperone. They quickly arrange for Mitzi to have singing lessons with Schubert as the 'cover' when Kranz appears. Then as in Das Dreimäderlhaus, they ply Kranz with drink, and get him to agree to the double wedding.

The second act follows the plot of Das Dreimäderlhaus reasonably closely, though there are further gratuitous insertions of Schubert's greatest hits!.

The third act is set in Schubert's lodgings. He is poor and in bad health, but some of his works are about to be given in a concert. Schubert is too ill to attend, but everyone else does, and they return to Schubert's lodgings to tell him about his triumph. Here the details in the plot are unravelled just before Schubert dies on stage, to the strains of Ave Maria, and surrounded by angels!^[1].

Lilac Time

The English plot is basically true to the original Das Dreimäderlhaus. The names, of course, were changed: the three girls became Tilli, Willi and Lili Veit, Kupelwieser became Kappel, Brunedas became Braun and Giuditta Grisi became Fiametta Marini. The language is often rather quaint to modern ears, and the 1922 libretto was replaced with a new book and lyrics by Phil Park in 1973. At the same time, the Clutsam adaptation was replaced by one from Ronald Hanmer. Of course, Park took the opportunity to change all the names again: the girls now becoming Fritzi, Litzi and Mitzi Zell (that is, very similar to the Blossom Time names), poor Leopold Kupelwieser now becoming Ludwig Kuppel, Brunedas lost another letter to become just Brun, and Fiametta changed again to Adelina Taliani.

Notes

[1]	The statement under "Das Dreimäderlhaus" in the Schubert Lexicon, that this is the ending of the English version (Lilac Time), or that the first act of Lilac Time is set in the Prater, is quite false.