Die Kinder der Heide is a four act opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 by Anton Rubinstein

Anton Rubinstein

Anton Grigorevich Rubinstein was a Russian-Jewish pianist, composer and conductor. As a pianist he was regarded as a rival of Franz Liszt, and he ranks amongst the great keyboard virtuosos...

, to a libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 by Salomon Mosenthal, based on a verse novel by the Hungarian poet Carl Beck.

Background

Whilst working on the opera in 1859, Rubinstein wrote to a friend:

I have absolutely no luck with opera texts. I have wasted a lot of time and money and everything has been unusable.[...] I am hoping that with my present attempt, I shall have more luck, and then the world will have something novel in store!

He also told Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...

 that he hoped to have the opera premiered in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, where in fact it was eventually produced in 1861 - most of the opera was written in Dornbach, not far from the capital. The opera's first performance in Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 was in 1867.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 23 February 1861, Kärntnertor Theatre, Vienna
Count Waldemar	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Gustav Walter Gustav Walter Gustav Walter was a Bohemian operatic tenor who sang leading roles for more than 30 years at the Vienna Staatsoper in Austria. He was a highly regarded interpreter of the vocal music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the lighter tenor roles composed by Richard Wagner...
Conrad, an innkeeper	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...	Hrabanek
Maria, his daughter	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Gabrielle Kraus
Wania, a herdsman	tenor	Aloys Ander
Isbrana, a gypsy	mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...	Csillag
Gypsies, villagers, soldiers, etc

Act 1

Wania is Isbrania's lover; she tells him of a planned robbery of Conrad's inn, which Wania foils. Conrad offers him as a reward his daughter Maria in marriage.

Act 2

Maria confesses to her father that she is in love with a mystery man, who turns out to be Count Waldemar. Waldemar and Isbrana conspire to interrupt the marriage ceremony.

Act 3

Finding Maria with the Count, Wania fights and kills him. He is helped to escape by Isbrania and the gypsies.

Act 4

In a forest hideout, Wania is visited by the grieving Conrad and Maria, who has gone mad. Wania prevents the gypsies from robbing them as they depart. Soldiers arrive to arrest Wania; when he refuses to escape with Isbrania she stabs herself and dies.