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Blech

     Leo Blech was born at Achen on April 22, 1871. He received his musical training at Aachen and Berlin, and is a pupil of Humperdinck. From 1893-1896 he was musical conductor at the Municipal Theatre at Aachen, and from 1899-1906 he conducted at the German Landestheater at Prague. Since then he has shared the duties of conductorship with other orchestral leaders at the Royal Opera House of Berlin. His operas include Das War Ich and Aschenbroedel. Versiegelt, which was first produced at Hamburg in 1908, was brought out three years later at New York. The score is delightfully melodious and at times decidedly humorous and original in its orchestral effects.

Versiegelt

     Opera in one act by Leo Blech. Libretto by Richard Batka and Pordes-Milo, after a story by Raupach.
     Characters: Braun; Elsie, Frau Gertrud; Frau Willmers; Bertel; Lampe; Neighbor Knote; Champion Marksman.
     Place, small town in Germany. Time, early part of the Nineteenth Century. First produced at Berlin in 1908. First American production at New York in 1912. {252}
     The story revolves about a wardrobe owned by Frau Wilimers, which is about to be sold for taxes by the Burgomaster, Braun, chiefly because Braun’s daughter, Elsie, against her father’s wishes, loves Bertel, son of Frau Willmers. To save the wardrobe she pleads with Frau Gertrud to take it in charge and thwart the constable, a typical Teutonic policeman named Lampe.
     So the wardrobe is carried into Frau Gertrude’s living-room, represented in the opera’s single scene. Gertrud is a comely widow, in love with Braun, but is unable to coax a confession of love from him. Lampe spies the ‘wardrobe in Gertrud’s house and runs away to tell the Burgomaster. Meanwhile the Burgomaster comes to call upon the widow and begins to make love when Lampe’s voice is heard outside. The Burgomaster hides in the wardrobe, Lampe comes in, attaches the wardrobe and puts seals on it.
     Bertel and Elsie appear; find the stern Burgomaster locked in the wardrobe and refuse to release him until he has given them his blessing. They then let him out, when just for a joke he imprisons the young couple in the wardrobe, and hides to see the fun. Villagers flock in, having heard of the Burgomaster’s plight, and the surprise comes when the wardrobe is opened and Elsie and Bertel run out. The Burgomaster and Gertrud announce their engagement, while the younger couple are equally certain of matrimonial union in the near future.