Die Kluge (The Wise Woman), a German fairy tale opera by Carl Orff: opera plot synopsis, character description, and other Carl Orff opera information.

Carl Orff's opera Die Kluge ('The Wise Woman' or 'The Clever Girl'), is a fairy tale. Here, the famous composer of Carmina Burana, turned brothers Grimm's old folk tale into a modern story of wisdom against mindless power. The wise woman's commitment to truth sticks, while the mischievous characters in the tramps lighten the mood with their antics.

• Composer: Carl Orff (1895-1982)
• Composed: 1940-1942
• Libretto: Carl Orff based on a fairy tale by the brothers Grimm.
• Language: German.
• First performance: Stadtische Bühnen, Frankfurt, Opernhaus, February 20, 1943.
• Setting: Unspecified time and place.
• Opera in One Act, 12 Scenes. Fairy tale.

The Main Characters/Roles in Die Kluge (The Wise Woman)

• Peasant, Der Bauer (bass)
• King, Der König (baritone)
• Peasant's daughter, Der Bauern Tochter (soprano)
• Jailer (bass)
• First Tramp (tenor)
• Second Tramp (baritone)
• Third Tramp (bass)
• Man with the mule (baritone)
• Man with the donkey (tenor)

Plot Summary (Synopsis) of Die Kluge (The Wise Woman)

Act 1

The peasant laments that he should have listened to his daughter's advice, otherwise he shouldn't have been imprisoned.

Three tramps complain that times are bad.

The king summons the peasant's wise daughter and offers to free her father and marry her if she can answer three riddles. She did, marries the king and her father is freed.

The tramps discuss the king's latest wife.

The donkey-man appeals to the king for judgment. He fraudulently claims that the king was unjust by giving his foal to the mule-man.

In disguise, the wise woman (now the queen) comes to the donkey-man's rescue and promises to help him.

The tramps bribed the jailer to give them the king's wine.

The donkey-man pretends to fish in the marketplace, and when the king questions him, he replies that it is no more odd to fish on dry land than it is to expect donkeys to give birth. The king realizes the wise woman has put him up and orders him thrown in jail.

The king orders his wife to fill chests with what she desires and leave. The wise woman drugs the king's wine so that he falls asleep. (She sings a sweet lullaby to the king.)

The wise woman leaves the palace with a large chest (actually containing the drugged king.)

On the king's orders, the jailer frees the donkey-man and gives him money.

The wise woman brings the king home in the chest. When he awakens, their love is ignited once again.

Operas by Carl Orff

• Der Mond 1937
• Die Kluge 1941
• Die Bernauerin 1944
• Astutuli 1945
• Antigone 1947
• Trionfo di Afrodite 1950
• Der Sánger der Vorwelt 1955
• Oedipus, der Tyrann 1958
• Ein Sommernachtstraum 1962

Sources:

Opera by Alan Riding and L.D. Downer, DK (2006)

Dictionary of Composers and their Music by Eric Guilder, Sphere Reference (1987)

The Da Capo Opera Manual by Nicholas Ivor Martin (Da Capo Press, 1997)