The Opera Group
Previous Productions
Blond Eckbert & Other Stories
The Story of Blond Eckbert
Eckbert and his wife Berthe live in seclusion in the Harz mountains. One stormy night, Eckbert’s friend Walther visits them unexpectedly. Longing to share with a friend, Eckbert encourages Berthe to tell Walther her life story:
In her childhood, her parents were desperately poor and her father was cruel, so she escaped to a remote region where a mysterious old woman brought her up. The old woman lived with a dog - whose name Berthe has forgotten - and a magic bird which laid jewels instead of eggs. Berthe was content, but as she grew up she became curious about the outside world. She ran away, tying up the dog, stealing the jewels and releasing the bird. Arriving back at her home village, she found her parents were dead. She settled down, living on the proceeds of the jewels, and met and married Eckbert.
Walther thanks her for her story and as he retires to bed he says �I can really imagine the bird and that friendly little dog, Strohmian.� Strohmian! Berthe immediately recognises the name she had forgotten. She is fascinated at how Walther knew it�whilst Eckbert is suspicious. When Walther leaves quietly in the middle of the night he is followed by Eckbert who shoots him.
Berthe�s childhood memories and fears have been awakened by Walther. She becomes ill and dies.
Eckbert, burdened with guilt, visits a city seeking distraction. A compassionate stranger, Hugo, befriends him. But as their intimacy deepens, Eckbert becomes suspicious of Hugo. He thinks that Hugo even begins to resemble Walther.
Eckbert finds himself in Berthe’s childhood landscape. He hears the bird singing and encounters the old woman, who reveals that she, Walther and Hugo are the same person. She tells Eckbert that Berthe was his sister, who had been given away, in early childhood by their father. “Why have I always imagined this dreadful thing?” cries Eckbert. “You heard your father say it when you were a child.” Eckbert falls to the ground, insane and dying.