On the advice of his companion Bluteck, the cruel knight Barbe-Bleue (Blaubart) decides to remarry for the seventh time and kidnaps Bertha, the eldest daughter of the rich Geldsack. The next day, Barbe-Bleue leaves the castle and gives Bertha all the keys, including the one to the secret cabinet, which he nevertheless forbids her to enter. But Bertha disobeys him and discovers the decapitated bodies of his previous wives. To punish her for her curiosity, Barbe-Bleue sentences her to death. She is saved by her former suitor Hugo von Hohenfels, who, with the help of the servant Kasperl, enters the castle and kills Barbe-Bleue.

Young audiences

Pocci Franz von

Germany

Munich

Printed

Cruelty

Bear

Hunting

Wedding

Romanticism

Knighthood

Young girl

Deafness

Curiosity

Kidnapping

Women's condition

Murder

Dramatic

Comical

Parodistic

German

Barbe-Bleue

Kasperl

Knight

Horseman

Monologue

Song

Disguise

Dance

Word for another

Dialogue of the deaf

Parody of formal language

Apparition of the Devil

Blaubart

Bluebeard

Wiltrud and Scohlint, the bad witches, make Princess Röslein (or Dornröslein, “Thorn Flower”) fall asleep, along with the whole court of King Purpur and of Queen Hermelin, by pricking her finger on a distaff when she turns fifteen. The fairy Sconea mitigates the curse by promising that it will turn into a blessing. Years later, the knight Minnamunt finds the bewitched castle, defeats the giant Schlafdorn (“Sleeping Thorn”) who was guarding the gates and wakes the princess and her court.

String marionette

Poetry

Sorcery

Philosophy

Childhood

Adult

Nature

Mechanization

Heroism

Sleep

Shakespeare

Fantasy

Humorous

Illustration by Franz von Pocci for the original edition of the play

Queen

Prince

Poet

Valet

Fairy

Old woman

Herald

Giant

Metatheatre

Apparition

Versified passages

Address to the public

Talking animal

Fight

Transforming scenery

Current affairs

Dornröslein

Sleeping Beauty

Kasperl leaves his wife Grete and resigns from his job at Stoffelbauer’s farm to explore the world. On the road, he meets the genius of the mountains, Cuivre Curpus. The latter is dressed as an old man and Kasperl gives him three of his copper coins. Cuprus thanks him and gifts him a magic violin in turn. Kasperl uses it to make the Jew Mauschl dance until he faints, after discovering that he was embezzling money. Two robbers – Fangauf and Schnapper – take advantage of the opportunity to steal Mauschl’s purse. Kasperl is then introduced to Duke Richard’s court as the violinist Spagatini, and he seduces the Duke’s daughter, Princess Amalie, as well as her lady-in-waiting. One day he is caught serenading them by night, but he makes the guards, the whole court, the princess and the lady-in-waiting dance. However, he is brought to justice and accused by Mauschl of having stolen the purse. As a result, he is sentenced to death. At the gallows, he asks to play one last tune on his violin, in the hope of making everyone dance and escaping. But Cuprus appears with Grete. He takes away the magic of the violin but promises to save Kasperl’s life, on condition that he goes back to his wife.

Beer

Sausage

Laziness

Money

Mines

Copper

Music

Concert

Genie

People and history

Magic

Love

Impossible love

Seduction

Serenade

Justice

Musician

Aristocracy

Royal Court

Scaffold

Gallows

Tralala

Faust

Lyrical

Title page illustrated by the author in the original edition of the play

Madame Kasperl

Duke

Lady in waiting

Marshal

Judge

Clerk

Waiter

Guard

Domestic scene

Sung scenes

Metamorphosis

Chorus

Board

Caricature

Macaronism

Parodic trial

Deus ex machina

Die Zaubergeige

The enchanted violin

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.

Night

Melancholy

Spirits

Robber

Coffee

Market

Wealth

Scatology

Debt

Tavern

Perlicke

Burlesque

Schicksalsdrama in vier Aufzügen

Tailor

Police officer

Shoemaker

Chimney sweeper

Ghost

Thunderbolt

Animated natural element

Hanging scene

Instrumental tune

Casperl wird reich

Casperl gets rich

It’s Saint John’s Day. The God Pan announces the arrival of dawn and invokes the spirit of flowers. Every character that appears seems to be filled with an overwhelming desire to love: a seminarian and the daughter of a priest secretly kiss, a bird sings for his lover, two young farmers embrace on a cart, two children talk about stars and babies, a nun praises her creator, two cats fight passionately, a young girl longing for love falls asleep… When she wakes up, an older girl suggests that they go see a witch that can make them see the man they will love. Despite their fear and the darkness, they go to the witch whose spell makes their future husbands appear. One looks oddly like the fisherman from the beginning of the play, and the other looks like the prince who previously appeared as a fish. Still quivering and bewitched, the two girls leave and Pan ends the play by playing the flute.

Shadow theatre

Not specified

Bernus Alexander von

Feast of Saint John

Paganism

Flowers

Lust

Greta von Hoerner, spirit of a flower, Pan, 1907

Romantisches Schattenspiel

Nymph

Spirit

Flower

Witch

Seminarian

Bird

Sheep

Shepherd

Fisherman

Fish

Hunter

Carter

Prostitute

Child

Wisp

Mole

George Sand arrives in Geneva, where Liszt and his lover Marie de Flavigny, countess d’Agoult, live. Their house is empty when she arrives, and a letter by Liszt lets her know that they have gone to Chamonix. One of the couple’s friends, adjuvant Pictet, lets her in, but he believes her to be a man because of her travel clothes. Liszt and Marie come back. George Sand dresses as a woman and they all laugh at the adjuvant’s mistake. The play ends with a song in which they make fun of Genevan narrow-mindedness.