The Queen’s Lace Handkerchief.
[Opéra comique, in three acts; text by Genée and Bohrmann-Riegen. First produced at Vienna, October 2, 1880.]
PERSONAGES.
The King. The Queen. Donna Irene, the Queen’s confidante. Marquis of Villareal. Cervantes, poet. Count Villaboisy Roderiguez, Prime Minister. Don Sancho de Avellaneda, tutor to the King. Marquis de la Mancha Villareal, Minister of War. Duke of Feria, Minister of Finance. Count San Gregorio, Minister of the Interior. Count Ermos, Minister of the Navy. Don Diego de Barados, Minister of Police. Dancing-Master. Master of Ceremonies. Antonio, innkeeper.
[Students, doctors, ladies and gentlemen of the court, toreadors, brigands, etc.]
The scene is laid in Portugal; time, the year 1570.
The romance of the story of “The Queen’s Lace Handkerchief” has helped to make this opera one of the most popular of Strauss’ works. The action begins at a time when Portugal is ruled by a ministry whose premier is in league with Philip II. of Spain, and who, to keep possession of power, has fomented trouble between the young Queen and King, and encouraged the latter in all kinds of dissipations. At this time Cervantes, the poet, who has been banished from Spain, is a captain in the Royal Guards, and in love with Irene, a lady in waiting. These two are good friends of both the King and Queen, and are eager to depose the ministry. Cervantes is reader to the Queen, and the latter, having a sentimental attachment for him, writes upon her handkerchief, “A queen doth love thee, yet art thou no king,” and placing it in a volume of “Don Quixote,” hands it to him. The book is seized, and as “Don Quixote” is Minister of War and “Sancho Panza” Minister of Instruction, Cervantes is arrested for libel and treason. Irene and the King, however, save him by proving him insane, and the King and Queen ascend the throne. In desperation the premier hands the King the handkerchief with the inscription on it, which leads to the re-arrest of Cervantes and the banishment of the Queen to a convent. Cervantes escapes, however, and joins some brigands. They capture the Queen on her way to the convent, and in the disguise of the host and waiting-maid of an inn, they serve the King, who happens there on a hunting-trip. Everything is satisfactorily accounted for, and the inscription on the handkerchief is explained as a message which the Queen sent to the King by Cervantes.
The music is light and brilliant. Much of it is in the waltz movement, and the choral work is a strong feature. Its best numbers are the Queen’s humorous romanza, “It was a wondrous Fair and Starry Night”; another humorous number, the King’s truffle song, “Such Dish by Man not oft is seen”; the epicurean duet for the King and premier, “These Oysters are great”; Cervantes’ recitative, “Once sat a Youth,” in the finale of the first act: a dainty little romanza for Cervantes, “Where the Wild Rose sweetly doth blow”; the trio and chorus, “Great Professors, Learned Doctors”; the fine duet for the King and Cervantes, “Brighter Glance on him shall repose”; Sancho’s vivacious couplet, “In the Night his Zither holding”; the Queen’s showy song, “Seventeen Years had just passed o’er me”; and the two closing choruses, “Now the King all hail,” in march time, and the Bull-fight, which is full of dash and spirit.