Place—Germany.
Prologue. An Old Mill near Nuremberg. Students under Palm are shipping out in grain-bags literature directed against the invader—Napoleon. Ricke tells Worms, whose mistress she has been, that her sweetheart, the poet Loewe, will soon return, and that she must confess to him her guilty secret. Worms dissuades her. Loewe arrives and is joyously welcomed by his comrades. The police break in, arrest Palm, and take him off to be executed.
Act I. A Hut in the Black Forest. Seven years are supposed to have passed. Loewe, his aged mother, and Ricke and Jane have found refuge here from the victorious troops of Napoleon. Worms is thought to be dead. Loewe is to be married to Ricke. But suddenly the voice of Worms is heard in the forest. Loewe joyously meets his old friend, who, however, is much disconcerted at the sight of Ricke, and goes away. Ricke flees from her husband, who concludes that she has fled with Worms.
Act II. Secret Cellar at Koenigsberg. Worms and others plot to overthrow Napoleon. Loewe challenges Worms to a duel. Worms, penitent, asks Loewe to kill him. But the preparations are stayed by Queen Louise. She declares they should be fighting against Napoleon, not against each other.
Epilogue. Battlefield of Leipzig. Napoleon has been defeated. The great field is strewn with dead and dying. Among the latter, Ricke, still loving Loewe, finds him. He asks her to forgive Worms, who lies dead. She forgives the dead man, then lies down beside her dying husband. Distant view of the retreat of Napoleon's shattered legions.
[Modern French Opera]
The contemporaries and successors of Bizet wrote many charming operas that for years have given pleasure to large audiences. French opera has had generous representation in New York. Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffmann," Delibes's "Lakmé," Saint-Saëns's "Samson et Dalila," Massenet's "Manon" are among the most distinguished works of this school.