King Mirambole is tyrannical, vain and hypochondriac, and he wants to marry. Three rival courtiers (the Doctor, the Astrologer and the Goldsmith) flatter the King, smear one another and conspire to persuade him to choose a woman from their respective families as his wife. The Doctor convinces the King that only a comet put on his forehead will cure him of all his pains. To cause the Astrologer’s downfall, he also advises the King to leave this task to him. The Astrologer suggests that the King ask the Goldsmith to make one, while the Goldsmith persuades the King to entrust the Doctor and the Astrologer with the task. In the end, the valet Pierrot commits to bringing the king a comet. Pierrot goes to his brother, an innkeeper, brings back a bottle of “comet wine” and convinces his niece Balibutte to follow him. When he comes back to the palace, he introduces his niece as a comet embodied in a woman, and he cures the king with the wine. Balibutte relates a dream to the king, which both exposes the courtiers’ betrayals and tells him how to punish them. The king executes the courtiers, marries Balibutte and names Pierrot grand vizier.

Glove-puppet

All audiences

France

Paris

Printed

Brokers

Ambition

Flattery

Conspiracy

Tyrant

Wedding

Vanity

Cabaret

Wine

Self-deception

Cruelty

Comet

Cure

Illness

Dream

Rivalry

Melancholy

Satirical

Fantasy

Comical

Front page of La Comète du Roi Mirambole, 1862.

French

Astrologer

Physician

Executioner

Pierrot

Cabaret owner

Herald

Blow-with-a-stick

Aside

Off-stage noise

Public announcement

Execution scene

Account of a dream

Monologue

La Comète du Roi Mirambole

The Comet of King Mirambole

Unable to sleep, Casperl complains about his lot in life and even says that he is ready to appeal to the spirits, following the example of Faust, when a headless ghost appears in front of him. The ghost asks him to save him from hell by performing the necessary rites at midnight at the gallows. In exchange, Casperl will get hold of the treasure that the ghost buried at this location when he was still a bandit. The next day, Casperl, who has forgotten the ritual words, asks the witch Moosmayerin to help him: she gives him Holofernes’ magical belt. In the next scene, Casperl has become rich, but he considers that the money shouldn’t be used to pay his debts and he sends his creditors away with injurious words. When a police officer comes to arrest him, he manages to lock the police officer inside his house and goes to the tavern. When he returns to his place, he discovers that the police officer has hung himself by accident with the rope with which he tried to slip away. Casperl is thrown in prison, but he is freed by the ghost, who tells him that the police officer has not died and that he has resumed his work.

String marionette

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Germany

Munich

Beer

Night

Faust

Spirits

Robber

Scaffold

Sorcery

People and history

Coffee

Market

Wealth

Scatology

Debt

Tavern

Perlicke

Romanticism

Burlesque

German

Schicksalsdrama in vier Aufzügen

Kasperl

Madame Kasperl

Tailor

Police officer

Shoemaker

Chimney sweeper

Ghost

Word for another

Metatheatre

Thunderbolt

Chorus

Animated natural element

Song

Disguise

Parody of formal language

Macaronism

Hanging scene

Transforming scenery

Board

Instrumental tune

Casperl wird reich

Casperl gets rich

A poet comes out of his bath to walk on a bridge and enjoy the sunset. A gardener walks past him and mentions the glorious life he gave up in order to cultivate flowers. A young man relates his day spent hunting alone. Then comes a stranger, and after him a girl who is listening to a traveling singer. Night has now fallen. A group of three people arrives on the bridge: a madman, his servant, and a doctor. The madman is a young nobleman who had a life of abundance before devoting himself to solitude and to roaming. He meditates on the illusion of all things while leaning on the bannister. He tries to throw himself in the water, but his comrades prevent him from doing so.

La Comète du Roi Mirambole

Casperl wird reich

Schicksalsdrama in vier Aufzügen

Das kleine Welttheater

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