Opera Books
THE OPERA
EDITED BY
ALBERT HILLERY BERGH
VOLUME IV.
1909
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Eichberg.
Julius Eichberg was
born on June 13, 1824, at Düsseldorf. He was a pupil of Rietz at
Düsseldorf, attended the Brussels Conservatoire from 1843 to 1845, and,
in 1846, became violin teacher at the Conservatoire at Geneva. In 1857
he went to New York, and in 1859 accepted a call to Boston as conductor
of the Museum Concerts, and founded there a Conservatory in 1867, which,
under his direction, was highly successful.
Eichberg composed four operas, The Doctor of Alcantara, The Rose of
Tyrol, The Two Cadis, and A Night in Rome. He died in Boston on January
18, 1893.
Opera in two acts by
Eichberg. Libretto by Wolfe.
Characters: Dr. Paracelsus; Senor Balthazar; Carlos, his son; Perez
and Sanchos, porters; Don Hipolito Lopez Pomposo, the constable; Donna
Lucrecia, wife of Doctor Paracelsus; Isabella, her daughter; Inez, her
maid; cavaliers and citizens.
Place, Alcantara, Spain. Time, the Eighteenth Century. First
produced at Boston in 1862.
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Carlos, who is in love with Senorita Isabella, is serenading her
beneath her window. The girl is intended by her mother to be the wife of
a more distinguished suitor, but the girl inclines to her unknown
admirer. At the close of the serenade Isabella, Donna Lucrecia and Tnez
all claim to be the object of the cavalier’s attentions, and quarrel
over the matter. The doctor enters, and says that a basket apparently
meant for Inez has just been received. It is brought in by the porters,
and the curious Donna Lucrecia looks into it, discovering Carlos. The
youth springs out and sings a love-song, which the self-deluded Donna
Lucrecia believes is meant for her. A sudden noise interrupts the scene,
and after persuading Don Carlos to return to the basket Donna Lucrecia
flies. No sooner has she gone than Carlos leaves the basket and weights
it with books. The doctor and Inez enter, and thinking to conceal the
basket from Lucrecia they carry it out on the balcony. It accidently
falls into the river. When it is found that a man had been concealed in
it Inez and the doctor are very much terrified, and their fear increases
when the constable enters, announcing that he is Don Hipolito Lopez
Pomposo, and demanding particulars of the murder which he believes has
been committed.
In the second act the situation becomes more complicated when Inez
and the doctor find Carlos in the house. Inez, thinking he must be a
detective, seeks to conciliate him by offering him wine, but by mistake
the girl gives him a sleeping draught that the doctor has had ready for
a patient. Carlos falls insensible. It is believed that he is dead, and
his body is thrust under a sofa. Meanwhile Senor Balthazar, the father
of Carlos,
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to whom her mother is determined to marry Isabella, arrives to pass the
night. There being no room for the old gentleman he is put to bed on the
sofa, the supposed corpse of his son being underneath him. He has
frightful dreams, and sees unaccountable visions that daylight happily
puf to flight, bringing happiness to all, cud the union of Carlos and
Isabella.
Last updated April 20, 2007