Der Schmied von Gent is a "Grand magical opera" in three acts by Franz Schreker with a German-language libretto by the composer after the story Smetse Smee by the Flemish author Charles de Coster.
[5] Act 1 Smee owns a smithy on the banks of the River Leie in Ghent during the Eighty Years War when the region was struggling for independence from the ruling Spanish.
Smee makes no secret of his loathing of the Spaniards and, after being denounced to the authorities by a rival, the drunkard Slimbroek, loses his business and livelihood.
A man and a woman with an infant child appear at the forge: their donkey has lost a shoe which Smee, now wealthier than he could ever have imagined, is happy to replace without charge.
In return for his generosity, Joseph grants the blacksmith three wishes with which Smee is able to dupe the three emissaries of Hell which come to claim his soul: the executioner Hessels, the Duke of Alba and Satan’s mistress Astarte.