Der Bettelstudent

Der Bettelstudent (The Beggar Student) is an operetta in three acts by Carl Millöcker with a German libretto by Camillo Walzel (under the pseudonym of F. Zell) and Richard Genée, based on Les noces de Fernande by Victorien Sardou and The Lady of Lyons by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. However, the librettists added the element of combining love and politics to the French comedy plots. It premiered in Vienna in 1882.

The work was performed first at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, on 6 December 1882. It was a success and allowed Millöcker to retire from conducting. Johann Strauss II rejected the libretto in favor of A Night in Venice, but Millöcker's work turned out to be an enduringly popular operetta, with over 5,000 productions.

The piece played at the Thalia Theatre in New York City in 1883 and then in English at the Casino Theatre in 1883. It was revived in New York at least three times: in 1898 and 1899 at the Thalia Theatre, and in 1913 at the Casino Theatre. It was also performed in London at the Alhambra Theatre in 1884, in a four-act version.

The operetta has been filmed several times – once in English (1931), and once as a silent film (1927). A 1936 German film adaptation was directed by Georg Jacoby, and a 1956 West German film adaptation was directed by Werner Jacobs. Mazurka der Liebe from 1957 was produced in East Germany. It has also been performed on German television.

Recent productions in English include Ohio Light Opera (1996), and Light Opera Works (1991).

Colonel Ollendorf seeks revenge against Laura Nowalska, who rebuffed him with her fan, offended by his advances. Laura's mother declares that only a Pole and nobleman can be her son-in-law. He releases a seemingly penniless student and his friend (Symon and Janicki) to pose as a millionnaire and his aide, to entice the bankrupt but venerable Nowalska family. Laura agrees to marry Symon, and Janicki falls in love with Laura's sister.

The money that the colonel supplied to Symon is just about gone and he is no longer able to keep up the appearance of nobility. He and Laura have developed genuine feelings for each other and he struggles with the decision to tell her the truth. He writes a letter confessing the ruse. The colonel senses that the letter will end the plot, and convinces Laura's mother not to open it. When the wedding ceremony is over, the colonel reveals the truth about Symon, who is subsequently driven from the palace.

Symon is contemplating suicide, when his friend Janicki reveals that he is a Polish officer and is part of a group of patriots who are planning to capture the citadel and to reinstate King Stanislaus. The Governor-General discovers that Janicki knows the whereabouts of the Polish grand duke and bribes him with 200,000 thalers to reveal his location to the Austrians. Janicki asks Symon to impersonate the grand duke until the money for his capture can be paid. The plot succeeds. In return, he is knighted by King Stanislaus and accepted by his wife and mother-in-law.

Act 1

Act 2

Act 3