Ero s onoga svijeta

[1] American musicologist and music critic Ralph P. Locke described it as one of two major Croatian operas, alongside Nikola Šubić Zrinski.

[2] The opera takes place in a small town, somewhere in the plain at the foothill of Dinara mountain in Herzegovina, in early autumn.

The actual review was generally very positive, with Šafranek-Kavić giving particular praise to Gotovac's score, while having reservations about the quality of the libretto.

Only master Marko's daughter Djula is sad because her mother had died and her stepmother, Doma, does not care for her at all.

While the women are comforting Djula and starting to sing again, Mića slides down from a big haystack on which he had been lying unnoticed - as if he had fallen from the sky.

Doma, who had also heard of this young man from "another world", seeks out Mića and asks him about her late husband, Matija.

Mića adds that his pockets are empty and Doma, in a pang of conscience, hands him a sock full of gold coins to give to Matija when he sees him next.

Sima, the miller, approaches Marko and tells him that Djula had married a rich boy from the neighbouring village with whom she now lives happily.

Djula longs to see her father again, but Mića refuses to take her home without Marko's invitation.

Following his mother's advice, he left home pretending to be a poor boy, hoping to find a girl who will love him simply for who he is.