Sweethearts is a comic opera in two acts with book by Harry B. Smith and Fred de Gressac, lyrics by Robert B. Smith and music by Victor Herbert.

The first performance of the work was at the Academy of Music in Baltimore in March 1913, after which the show was overhauled and shortened before spending five weeks in Philadelphia and another five in Boston tryouts. The original Broadway production opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre on 8 September 1913 and transferred to the Liberty Theatre on 10 November 1913, running for a total of 136 performances.

Dramatis Personæ

MIDI Files

• Overture

ACT I   -   Courtyard of the Laundry of the White Geese, Bruges, Belgium.

• No. 1 - Opening Chorus - "All we do the whole day through is iron, iron, iron, iron! ..."
• No. 2 - Chorus - Soldiers and Girls - "When the band starts to play it is heard far away by the girls... in their glee..."
• No. 3 - Song - Liane and Chorus - "Opinions may vary on what's necessary to fascinate a man;  now is it the pretty, the clever, the witty..."
• No. 4 - Song - Sylvia and Chorus - "If you ask where love is found, the sort of love that's fond and true, I will bid you look around; it may be very near to you..."
• No. 5 - Song - Prince and Chorus - "When Love would have stood as my master, when Love would have led me a pace, my heart never beat any faster..."
• No. 6 - Song - Sylvia and Girls - "Mother Goose had an awful time with the children that she had;  they thought up every childish crime..."
• No. 7 - Quartet - Liane, Slingsby, Caniche and Van Tromp - "The lively Jeannette .. far famed for frivolity .. a sprightly coquette .. who lived just for jollity..."
• No. 8 - Angelus - Sylvia and Prince - "Now on the air a solemn silence falls, and holds me in its spell;  softly the angelus to prayer now calls..."
• No. 9 - Song - Karl and Girls - "The Game of Love has so many plays, whenever you are pursuing, you should adapt your ways to the sort of girl..."
• No. 10 - Finale Act I - "Pretty one, I have vowed to make you my own! ... Ha ha ha ha ha ha! ... His voice! ... With her? ..."

ACT II   -   The Royal Hunting-Lodge, Zilania.   A year later.

• Entr'acte
• No. 11a - Chorus - "As guests of the Prince we impatiently wait ... King! Ace! ... to welcome the bride; we're getting quite bored and the hour's growing late..."
• No. 11b - Song - Van Tromp and Chorus - "It doesn't matter what is done by Nature for a pretty one, she's never satisfied till she her hand has tried..."
• No. 12 - Song - Paula and Sisters - "If your aim in life is such that you find you cannot strike it, possibly you want too much; take what you can get and like it..."
• No. 13 - Entrance and Song - Sylvia and Chorus - "Tra la la, etc."  &  "Mesdames!  Messieurs!  Really you are too kind; I did not think to find so many here..."
• No. 14 - Duet - Liane and Karl - "When a man falls in love for the very first time ... As the men very often do ... The occasion to him is so very sublime..."
• No. 15 - Spoken monologue - Slingsby - "In matters of moment, I find friends of mine for my valued opinions are keen..."
• No. 16 - Duet - Sylvia and Prince - "A princess you shall be, my pretty village belle! ... I fear the rank's too great for me..."
• No. 17 - Quartet (sic) - Slingsby, Caniche and Van Tromp - "Behold three pious pilgrims here, all human hopes we've sunk..."
• No. 18 - Song - Sylvia - "An ivy clung to the crumbling wall of a castle grim amd gray;  she plainly saw that it soon must fall, and that she must turn away..."
• No. 19 - Finale Act II - "Hail, Franz of Zilania!  Long live the king! ..."

MIDI Files

External Links

Vocal Score at UR Research

Sweethearts at Wikipedia

Sweethearts at The Guide to Musical Theatre

American Musical Theatre

Page modified 30 March 2017