CZAR UND ZIMMERMANN " Czar and Zimmermann " (" Czar and Carpenter "), or " Peter the Great in Saardam," a comic opera in three acts with text and music by Gustav Albert Lortzing, was first presented in Berlin in 1839.
Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia, masquerading under the assumed name of Peter Michaelow, a car pe n ter.
Peter Ivanhoff, a Russian carpenter. Van Bett, Burgomaster of Saardam. Maria, his niece.
Mrs. Brown.
Admiral Lefort, Russian ambassador. Lord Syndham, English ambassador.
Marquis de Chateauneuf, French ambassador. Chorus of carpenters and inhabitants of Saardam.
Peter the Great of Russia, weary of pomp and circum stance, has disguised himself as a carpenter, has assumed the name of Peter Michaelow and has come to Saardam in Holland, where he is employed as a ship-builder. By his side labors Peter Ivanhoff, a deserter from the Russian army. The opening scene shows the carpenters at work and singing of their contentment. Ivanhoff would share in the general peace of mind except that the wiles of Maria, who has stolen his heart, prove sadly disturbing at times.
Her uncle, Van Bett, the burgomaster, makes his appearance and in an aria, unblushingly confides his merits to the world. His importance in municipal matters weighs upon him heavily and his appreciation of his own subtlety and powers of stratagem is complete. In such veiled allusions as " I and the law are known to be the same," and " Indeed, my wit is never failing," his modesty reveals itself.
It develops that the English ambassador, Lord Synd ham, has entrusted him with the task of searching out a Russian carpenter named Peter. Syndham, by the way, has been sent by his government to find the Czar and to press him to agree to certain important matters. In case the agreement is not forthcoming, Peter is to be seized and imprisoned. The French ambassador, the Marquis de Chateauneuf, has come on a similar mission to Saardam, the report that the Czar is there in disguise having been widely circulated. Van Bett is aghast to find two Russian Peters but with characteristic infallibility, he discerns a way out of the dilemma, choosing Ivanhoff because of his more villainous countenance and introducing him to Syndham. The Marquis is more successful, for he surprises the Czar into a betrayal of his identity by announcing serious Russian reverses. The Marquis, by the way, has also fallen victim to Maria's charms and makes ardent love to her.
A threatened rebellion at home making the Czar's immediate return advisable, Lefort, his ambassador, comes to fetch him. The interest develops around two conferences at a public house. At one table are seated the Czar, Lefort, and the French ambassador, at another Ivanhoff, Syndham and Van Bett, the curiosity of the last being keenly roused by such expressions from the lips of the Englishman as " sire," and " majesty." The real Czar has acceded to the requests
of the French ambassador, the only problem remaining unsolved being how to take a safe departure without the knowledge of the English. Syndham, earnestly conferring with the mock Czar, fancies that he had scored a diplomatic victory, for Ivanhoff, to save himself, agrees to everything and is rewarded with a passport.
Van Bett is upset by the presence in town of three such active strangers as the ambassadors and his sensibilities are hurt by the fact that Syndham has forgotten to pay him for his invaluable services in finding the Czar. His unrest evolves into an attempt to make an arrest. Overwhelmed to learn that his three principal suspects, the ambassadors, are men of rank and importance, he turns upon the Czar and Ivanhoff and the act ends in great excitement, the true Czar pushing Van Bett over the table.
Act III finds Van Bett in the midst of preparations for a reception in honor of Ivanhoff, whom he now thinks to be the Czar. Ivanhoff and Maria plan a surreptitious departure and the former, tired of glory and finding it possible to circumvent Van Bett, determines to make use of his passport. The real Czar, having discovered the existence of this valuable document, gets it by strategy, giving Ivan hoff another paper with orders not to open it until an hour has elapsed.
At the reception, while Van Bett is directing the performance of an original musical composition with great self-satisfaction, the reports of cannon are heard and in the distance is seen a ship, upon which may be discerned the forms of the Czar, Lefort and the French ambassador, taking an unannounced departure on Ivanhoff's passport. That worthy hastily opens his supposed passport to find instead his appointment to an important position near the Czar and the royal consent to his marriage with Maria.
" Czar and Zimmermann " is a stock piece in every German theatre. The principal numbers in the first act are: The Carpenter's song, "Grip your axe;" Maria's song, "Ah! jealousy is a bad companion; " Van Bett's aria, "Ah! Sancta Justitia, I shall go raving;" and the duet of Van Bett and Ivanhoff, " Shall I make a full confession?" In the second act occur the chorus, " Long live joy and pleasure; " the tenor romanza, " Fare thee well; " the sextet, " The work that we're beginning " and Maria's bridal song, " Charming maiden, why do blushes." In the last act are the aria and chorus, " To greet our hero with a stately reception; " and the Czar's song " In childhood, with crown and with scepter I played."