Der Teufelsreiter
Libretto by Rudolf Schanzer and Ernst Welisch
Premiere: Theater an der Wien, Vienna, March 10, 1932
Act I: Hungarian cavalry captain Count Sándor, known as the “Teufelsreiter” (the “Devil’s Rider”) is called to substitute for Prince Karl of Monaco in a quadrille at Vienna’s Spanish Riding School. His comrades observe that he seems to have fallen in love with Leontine, daughter of Prince Metternich, Austrian chancellor and Hungary’s political nemesis. Metternich and Leontine arrive in search of the rider who, earlier that day in the Prater, jumped the carriage that held both Leontine and the empress. Leontine, who pretends not to know the “villain,” has fallen in love with him, but will not admit it to anyone. Metternich, on the other hand, seeks to arrange a marriage between Leontine and Karl, heir to the throne of Monaco, who himself is enamored of pretty dancer Anina, who has no idea of his royal position. Metternich orders Anina’s father, police officer Pfleiderer, to investigate the riding incident. Sándor meets some Hungarian comrades who seek to present the Empress Carolina Pia with a petition outlining the sorrows of the Hungarian nation. Metternich has prevented such a meeting but, at the quadrille, Sándor manages to deliver the petition to the empress. She is smitten with him and announces a conciliatory visit to Hungary. An irate Metternich sentences Sándor to Spielberg prison for three months on account of his cocky pranks. Leontine and Sándor vow eternal faithfulness to each other as he is led off.
Act II: In Pressburg (current-day Bratislava), Metternich tries to shield the empress from the Hungarian delegation by passing off disguised Austrians as Hungarians. Prince Honorius of Monaco has lost most everything at roulette and asks his son Karl to marry the immeasurably rich Leontine. The young prince hesitates. Meanwhile, the “Teufelsreiter,” on leave from prison for 24 hours, has hurried to Pressburg to ask Leontine for her hand. He crosses paths with the empress, who thinks that he has returned for her sake. Meanwhile, Pfleiderer has finally learned that his daughter Anina loves Prince Karl. When Monaco’s Prince Honorius has Karl introduce Anina to him, the old gentleman himself falls under the spell of the bewitching girl. Leontine makes Sándor promise to never again scheme against her father. An infuriated empress, sensing that Sándor’s allegiance is to Leontine and not to her, sends him back to prison, separated again from his beloved Leontine.
Act III: Prince Honorius appoints Anina a countess; she is always to accompany him in the future. The empress, meanwhile, is daydreaming about a fling with Sándor, but believes him still back in prison at Spielberg. But the “Teufelsreiter” is at it again. Acting as courier, he delivers to the empress a note written by her husband, the emperor. Although the monarch has learned in the meantime that Count Sándor loves only Leontine, she forgives him and resigns. Due to the imperial favors, Metternich has to accept Count Sándor as his son-in-law. Prince Honorius, accompanied by Anina, comes back into much money at the casino. He happily accepts her idea to open his own casino in Monaco. Now Prince Karl, too, can marry his “countess.” Count Sándor is tasked with asking the Hungarian magnates to the imperial court. Now everybody is content, even though Empress Carolina Pia still mourns after her “Teufelsreiter.”
