ACT I.
Vienna, 1890s. Through the windows of the Eisenstein home floats the
serenade of Alfred, a tenor still in love with his old flame Rosalinde,
now the wife of Gabriel von Eisenstein. Adele, a chambermaid, saunters
in reading an invitation to a masked ball; Rosalinde, bedeviled by a
headache and believing she has heard Alfred's voice, enters but finds
only Adele. The maid asks for the evening off to visit a "sick aunt," a
plea her mistress dismisses. Alfred steps into the room and begins to
woo Rosalinde, who resists his verbal blandishments but melts on
hearing his high A. The suitor leaves as Eisenstein and his lawyer,
Blind, arrive from a session in court: Eisenstein has been sentenced to
a fortnight in jail for a civil offense. No sooner does he dismiss the
incompetent advocate than his friend Falke comes to invite Eisenstein
to a masquerade, suggesting he bring along his repeater stop-watch,
which charms all the ladies, so he can accumulate pleasant memories to
sustain him during his confinement in jail. Rosalinde joins Adele in a
bittersweet farewell to Eisenstein before he goes off to prison, got
up, to his wife's surprise, in full evening dress. Sending Adele to her
"aunt," Rosalinde receives the ardent Alfred. Their tête-à-tête is
interrupted by the warden Frank, who mistakes Alfred for the man he has
come to arrest. Rosalinde persuades Alfred to save her name by posing
as her husband, and Frank carts him off to jail.
ACT II.
In an antechamber at the palace of Prince Orlofsky, the nobleman's
guests, Adele and her cousin Ida among them, await the arrival of their
host. Orlofsky enters, quite bored — even with Falke's promise of a
comedy of errors. The prince proclaims his guests free to do anything
that suits their fancy — "Chacun à son gout." Adele, dressed in one of
Rosalinde's most elegant gowns, laughs off Eisenstein's suggestion that
she resembles his wife's chambermaid. Frank enters, and Rosalinde, also
invited by Falke, arrives disguised as a temperamental Hungarian
countess; she is soon wooed by her own reeling husband, whose pocket
watch she steals to hold as proof of his philandering. Rosalinde agrees
to sing a song about her "native" land, a spirited czardas, after which
the guests move on to a magnificent dining area to toast the joys of
wine, good fellowship and love. Champagne flows, and the guests dance
wildly until dawn. When the clock strikes six, Eisenstein staggers off
to keep his appointment at the jail.
ACT III.
Moments later at the prison, Frosch, a drunken jailer, tries to keep
order among the inmates, who are unable to sleep because of Alfred's
singing. Frank arrives, still giddy with champagne, followed shortly by
Ida and Adele, who, thinking him a theatrical agent, believes he might
further her stage aspirations. Frank, hearing someone at the door,
hides the girls in a cell and then admits Eisenstein, who has come to
begin his sentence. The new prisoner is surprised to learn his cell is
already occupied by a man who claims to be Eisenstein and who was found
supping with Rosalinde; to obtain an explanation from the impostor,
Eisenstein snatches a legal robe and wig from his astonished lawyer. No
sooner is he disguised than Rosalinde hurries in to secure Alfred's
release and press divorce charges against her errant husband. With her
would-be paramour, she confides her flirtation to the "lawyer."
Enraged, Eisenstein removes his disguise and accuses his wife of
promiscuity, at which Rosalinde whips forth the watch she took from him
at the ball. Orlofsky and his guests arrive to celebrate the
reconciliation of Rosalinde and Eisenstein, singing a final toast as
Eisenstein is taken away.
Synopsis