Chapter CXCIV: Act II: Thirty years have elapsed. In the courtyard of a house in

Vienna, _Magdalena_ meets an evangelist in whom she recognizes _Matthias_, the friend of her youth. She herself is here caring for _Johannes_ who is ill. How has _Matthias_ become an evangelist? He tells her his sad history. He had been sentenced to prison for twenty years. When he had finished his punishment he learned that his sweetheart _Martha_ out of grief had sought death in the water. Then he had become a wandering, singing preacher.

Second Part. In the sitting-room, _Johannes_ lies ill. But more than pain disturbs his mind. Then he hears outside the voice of the evangelist. _Magdalena_ must call him in. Without recognizing him _Johannes_ tells his brother of the infamous action through which he had ruined the other's life. And _Matthias_ not only preaches love but practices it too. He forgives his brother who now can die in peace.

DER KUHREIGEN

RANZ DES VACHES

Music-drama in three acts; music by Wilhelm Kienzl; poem by
Richard Batka.

CHARACTERS

THE KING _Bass_
MARQUIS MASSIMELLE, commandant _Bass_
BLANCHEFLEUR, his wife _Soprano_
CLEO, their lady at court _Mezzo-Soprano_
CAPTAIN BRAYOLE _Tenor_
PRIMUS THALLUS _Tenor_
DURSEL (_Bass_) and under officers
in a Swiss regiment
FAVART, under-officer of Chasseurs _Baritone_
DORIS, daughter of the keeper of a
canteen in the St. Honoré barracks _Soprano_

_Time_--1792-3.

_Place_--Paris and Versailles.

Act I. Barracks of St. Honoré. Under penalty of death the Swiss soldiers have been forbidden to sing their native songs especially the Kuhreigen or "Ranz des Vaches," because songs of their native land always awakened homesickness and had led to desertions. But a quarrel between _Primus Thallus_, of the Swiss, and _Favart_, of the Chasseurs, excites the Swiss and they sing "In the fort at Strassburg" (Zu Strassburg auf der Schanz) the song of the Swiss who became a deserter through homesickness, the song which was forbidden by such a severe decree, especially because it introduced the Kuhreigen or "Ranz des Vaches." Then _Favart_ believed the moment had come to be able to avenge himself. He quickly called an officer to hear the forbidden song. The officer first wants to arrest all the Swiss, but _Primus Thallus_ takes all the blame on himself; he is glad to prevent the others being imprisoned.