Jeanne qui pleure et Jean qui rit

Libretto by Charles Nuitter and Etienne Tréfeu; original German version anonymous (F,G)

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Hannchen's mill

Hannchen [Joan] and Kilian smash the furnishings of the mill which Hannchen inherited from her father. For the deceased miller placed a condition on the inheritance: Hannchen has to sell the mill after his death and marry the buyer. Since Kilian does not have enough money, they now try to make the mill so unattractive that the potential buyer – the wine grower Mosthuber, who wants his dumb son Niklas to marry Hannchen – is put off. In order to intimidate Mosthuber, Kilian spreads the rumour that the extremely rich miller Seebach from the neighbouring village intends to make a bid as well. When Hannchen realizes that Niklas only wants to marry a cheerful woman, she plays the depressive, which has a certain effect too. Then she pretends to be her rude brother ‘Hansi’ [John], who – according to the will – is listed as belonging to the mill, and informs the Mosthuber family that ‘he’ is very likely to smash the mill to pieces. When the elderly Mosthuber finally pretends to be someone else – a woman – as well in order to get rid of the alleged rival Seebach, the nonsense is complete.

Comic