| Marie, the "Daughter of the Regiment," but really the daughter of the Marquise de Birkenfeld | Soprano |
| Sulpice, Sergeant of French Grenadiers | Bass |
| Tonio, a Tyrolese peasant in love with Marie; afterwards an officer of Grenadiers | Tenor |
| Marquise de Birkenfeld | Soprano |
| Hortensio, steward to the Marquise | Bass |
| Corporal | Bass |
Soldiers, peasants, friends of the Marquise, etc.
Time—1815.
Place—Mountains of the Swiss Tyrol.
Act I. A passage in the Tyrolese mountains. On the right is a cottage, on the left the first houses of a village. Heights in the background. Tyrolese peasants are grouped on rising ground, as if on the lookout. Their wives and daughters kneel before a shrine to the Virgin. The Marquise de Birkenfeld is seated on a rustic bench. Beside her stands Hortensio, her steward. They have been caught in the eddy of the war. An engagement is in progress not far away. The Tyrolese chorus sings valiantly, the women pray; the French are victorious. And why not? Is not the unbeaten Twenty-first Regiment of Grenadiers among them?
One of them is coming now, Sergeant Sulpice, an old grumbler. After him comes a pretty girl in uniform, a vivandière—Marie, the daughter of the regiment, found on the field of battle when she was a mere child, and brought up by a whole regiment of fathers, the spoiled darling of the grenadiers. She sings "Apparvi alla luce, sul campo guerrier"
[[Listen]]
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Apparvi alla luce, Sul campo guerrier, |
(I first saw the light in the camp of my brave grenadiers), which ends in a brilliant cadenza.