Zar und Zimmermann is an 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...

 in three acts, music by Albert Lortzing

Albert Lortzing

Gustav Albert Lortzing was a German composer, actor and singer. He is considered to be the main representative of the German Spieloper, a form similar to the French opéra comique, which grew out of the Singspiel.-Biography:Lortzing was born in Berlin to Johann Gottlieb Lortzing and Charlotte Sophie...

, libretto by the composer after Georg Christian Römer's Der Bürgermeister on Saarlem, oder Die zwei Peter, itself based on a French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 work entitled Le Bourgesmestre de Sardam, ou Les deux Pierres by Anne-Honoré-Joseph Duveyrier de Mélésville

Anne-Honoré-Joseph Duveyrier de Mélésville

Baron Anne-Honoré-Joseph Duveyrier de Mélésville , pen-name Mélésville, was a French dramatist.-Life:...

, Jean Toussaint Merle and Eugène Centiran de Boirie. In 1956 it was adapted into an East German film The Czar and the Carpenter

The Czar and the Carpenter

The Czar and the Carpenter is a 1956 East German musical comedy film directed by Hans Müller and starring Willy A. Kleinau, Bert Fortell and Lore Frisch. It is an adaptation of the opera Zar und Zimmermann by Albert Lortzing...

.

Performance history

The opera was first performed at the Stadttheater in Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

, on December 22, 1837. Lortzing's most successful and enduring work, it is still regularly performed in German-speaking countries.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast, December 22, 1837 (Conductor: - )
Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia	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...	Karl Becker
Peter Ivanov, young Russian carpenter	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...	Albert Lortzing
Van Bett, burgomaster of Saarlem	bass	Gotthelf Leberecht Berthold
Marie, daughter of van Bett	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...	Caroline Günther-Bachmann
Marquis de Chateauneuf, French ambassador	tenor	Joseph Wilhelm Swoboda Joseph Wilhelm Swoboda Joseph Wilhelm Swoboda was a Czech operatic tenor, actor, and opera director. He started his career as a stage actor in his native country during the 1820s. He began his opera career in 1836 in Neustrelitz, and after appearing at several German opera houses, became a leading and comprimario tenor...
Widow Browe, master carpenter	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...	Caroline Günther-Bachmann
General Lefort, Russian ambassador	bass	Pogner
Lord Syndham, English ambassador	bass	Heinrich Richter

Synopsis

The action takes place in Saardam, Holland, in 1698.

Peter the Great of Russia, disguised as Peter Michaelov, is working in the Dutch shipyards in order to learn nautical trades. He befriends the deserter Peter Ivanov, who is in love with the Burgmeister Van Bett's daughter Marie. Asked whether Peter the Great is really in the shipyard, the Burgmeister identifies the wrong Peter. The Russian and English ambassadors are deceived, but the French ambassador Chateauneuf recognises the real Tsar. Van Bett prepares to send Peter Ivanov home in state, whilst the real Tsar departs quietly for Russia.

External links

• Libretto in German at Opera Guide