Haas, Pavel

Sarlatán (1934-37)

Duration: 125 minutes
Tragicomic opera in three acts

Libretto by the composer; German version by Jaroslava and Thomas Mandl (Cz,G)

Scoring
2S,6T,Bar,2B; small roles; chorus; 2.picc.2.corA.2.bcl.2.dbn-4.3.3.1-timp.perc-harp-cel-strings.
Abbreviations (PDF).

Territory
This work is available from Boosey & Hawkes for the world.

World Premiere
4/2/1938
National Theatre, Brno
Rudolf Walter, director
Conductor: Guido Arnoldi
Company: Ensemble of the National Theatre Brno

Roles

DOCTOR PUSTRPALK, travelling quack	Baritone
ROSINA, his wife	Soprano
BACCALAUREATES	Tenor
SOURMILK, cook	Tenor
COBWEB	Bass
PICKLED HERRING	Tenor
FIRE-EATER	Tenor
TIGHTROPE WALKER	Bass
SNAKE-CHARMER	Bass
PHARMACIST	Tenor
2 SERVANTS	Tenor, baritone
AMARANTA	Soprano
JOCHIMUS, monk	Baritone
KING	Baritone
Town physician, treacle seller, Jochimus's man, 3 students, man with crutches, travelling army doctor	small parts
Further small non-speaking parts
Army, crowd, carnival revellers

Time and Place
Europe, turn of the 17th century

Synopsis

The story is set at the end of the 17th century in a Europe laid waste by the 30 years' war and now on the threshold of the Age of Enlightenment. Doctors are either revered as magicians or persecuted as charlatans, according to whether their skills are successful or not. Pustrpalk is such a doctor who plies his trade as a travelling quack, together with Rosina, his harridan of a wife, and a retinue of itinerant entertainers and players, who make the people laugh with their antics and conjuring tricks when, inside, a patient yells as his teeth are pulled. One day, Pustrpalk cures a lady of rank of taedium vitae with a tried and tested remedy. She leaves her boring professor husband, joins the troupe, and is the cause of considerable fuss, for Pustrpalk wants her as his concubine and, to have two women in tow, seldom turns out well... Wherever Pustrpalk goes, he is the hero of the day. Even the King himself applauds him and calls him the greatest man of the times. However, Pustrpalk knows that the times are not great, that the angel of death walks by his side, grinning, and that the church is a hindrance to progress for the human body is still taboo. When a sick monk dies under his knife and the people suspect him of murder, he loses heart. As a 'Don Quixote of medicine', half sage, half jester, he dies a misjudged man in the circle of his grotesque fairground folk.

Moods
Comic, Dramatic, Poetic, Romantic

Subjects
Ethics, History, Relationships, Religion, Politics, Society

Recommended Recording
Vladimír Chmelo / Jan Jezek / Prague State Opera Orchestra / Israel Yinon
Decca 460 042-2