Lischen et Fritzchen

[1] The premiere was on 21 July 1863 at the Kursaal, Bad Ems, during a successful summer season for the composer.

A crossroads; a wine merchant’s house on the left with a seat outside, on the right a stone bench Fritzchen, an Alsatian servant, sacked because he presented his master’s lady with a beer (une bière) rather than a jewel (une pierre) rests by the roadside on his way back to Alsace.

Lischen enters, also returning homeward as she cannot make any money in Paris for herself and her old father as a broom-seller.

However, in a letter from Fritzchen’s father it emerges that Lischen was an illegitimate daughter of his sister and therefore he was only her uncle.

Now that a marriage between Lischen and Fritzchen is possible, in joy the couple join arms and continue their way home.