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La Dame blanche
Opera comique in 3 acts
Music by François Adrien Boieldieu
Libretto by Eugène Scribe
First performance: Opéra-Comique, Paris, December 10, 1825
Cast:
George Brown Tenor
Jenny Soprano
Gaveston Bass
Anna Soprano
Dickson Tenor
Minstrel
McIrton
Chorus:
Background
Synopsis
George Brown, the hero of the opera, a young lieutenant in English
service, visits Scotland. He is hospitably received by a tenant of the
late Count Avenel, who has been dead for some years. When he arrives the
baptism of the tenant's youngest child is just being celebrated, and
seeing that they lack a godfather he good-naturedly consents to take the
vacant place.
Seeing the old castle of the Avenels, he asks for its history, and
the young wife Jenny tells him that , according to the traditions of the
place, it is haunted by a ghost. This apparition is called the "White
Lady," but, unlike other ghosts, she is good, protecting her sex against
fickle men. All the people around believe firmly in her and pretend to
have seen her themselves. In the castle there exists a statue which
bears the name of this benevolent genius, and in it the old Lord has
hidden treasures. His steward Gaveston, a rogue, who has taken away the
only son of the Count in the child's earliest days, brings the castle
with all its acres to public sale, hoping to gain it for himself.
He has a charming ward, named Anna. It is she who sometimes plays
the part of the White Lady. She has summoned the young tenant Dickson,
who is sincerely devoted to her, into the castle, and the young man,
though full of fear, yet dare not disobey the ghostly commands. George
Brown, thirsting for a good adventure, and disbelieving in the
ghost-story, declares that he will go in Dickson's place.
In the second act George, who has found entrance into the castle,
calls for the White Lady, who appears in the shape of Anna. She believes
that Dickson is before her, and she reveals her secret to him, imploring
his help against her false guardian Gaveston, who means to rob the true
and only heir of his property. She knows that the missing son of the
Avenels is living, and she has given a promise to the dying Countess to
defend his rights against the rapacious Gaveston. George gives his hand
to the pretended ghost in token of fidelity, and the warm and soft hand
which clasps his awakens feelings in him. On the following morning
Dickson and his wife Jenny are full of curiosity about George's visit,
but he does not breathe a word of his secret.
The sale of the castle, as previously announced, is to begin, and
Dickson has been empowered beforehand by all the neighboring farmers to
bid the highest price, in order not to let it fall into the hands of the
hateful Gaveston. They bid higher and higher, but at length Dickson
stops, unable to go further. Gaveston feels assured of his triumph, when
George Brown, recalling his vow to the White Lady, advances boldly,
bidding one thousand pounds more. Anna is beside him, in the shape of
the spectre, and George obediently bids on, till the castle is his for
the price of three hundred thousand pounds. Gaveston, in a perfect fury,
swears to avenge himself on the adventurer, who is to pay the sum in the
afternoon. Should he prove unable to do so, he shall be put into prison.
George, who firmly believes in the help of his genius, is quietly
confident, and meanwhile makes an inspection of the castle. Wandering
through the vast rooms, dim recollections arise in him, and hearing the
minstrel's song of the Avenel's, he all at once remembers and finished
the romance, which he heard in his childhood.
The afternoon comes, and with it McIrton, the justice of peace. He
wants the money, and Georges begs to await the White Lady, who promised
her help. Anna appears, bringing the treasure of the Avenels hidden in
the statue, and with them some documents which prove the just claims of
Edwin Count Avenel. This long-lost Count she recognizes in George Brown,
whose identity with the playmate of her youth she had found out the
night before. Gaveston approaches full of wrath to tear aside the
ghost's veil, and sees his own ward, Anna.
The happy owner of castle and country holds firm to the promise
which he gave the White Lady and offers hand and heart to the faithful
Anna, who has loved him from her childhood.
Libretto
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Last updated: January 22, 2008