Kurt Weill

Der Zar lässt sich photographieren, Op. 21

Translated title	The Czar Has His Photograph Taken
Subtitle	Opera buffa in one act
Text Author	Georg Kaiser
Publisher	EAMC
Instrumentation	2.2.2.2; 3.2.2.0; piano, timp, perc; strings; on-stage gramophone (for recording of "Tango Angèle")
Duration	60'
Language	German
Authorized translations	English: Jonathan Eaton; Lionel Salter; Lys Symonette
Synopsis	Angèle, a photographer, learns that the Czar (nation unspecified) is coming to her studio to be photographed. Others have learned the same thing; before the Czar arrives, she and her assistants are kidnapped and replaced by villains who plot to assassinate him. Their leader, the false Angèle, hides her gun in the camera. When the Czar arrives, he wants to get to know her and delays the proceedings, offers to take her picture and finally asks her to dance. The would-be assassins, meanwhile, have learned that the police are onto them, and they escape as the false Angèle breaks away during the tango. At last the real photographer returns, and the Czar has his photograph taken. Zar was one of the first operas to incorporate recorded sound, the "Tango Angèle" to which the Czar and the False Angèle dance.
Roles	The Czar (baritone), Angèle (soprano) the Assistant (tenor), the Boy (alto), the False Angèle (soprano), the False Assistant (tenor), The False Boy (alto), the Leader (tenor) the Czar's Aide (bass), two detectives, conspirators, officers, policemen. Male chorus in pit.