Composers and their stage works 



The Concert (Das Konzert).

Hermann Bahr


Comedy about the clandestine love affairs of Gustav Hein, an ageing pianist, who seeks to maintain his youth by having affairs with his young pupils.

On each occasion he tells his wife Marie that he is "giving a concert." Marie, an intelligent woman, pretends to be ignorant of these affairs until Eva, a pupil, learns that Gustav has taken a woman named Delphina to his cabin in the woods. In a fit of jealousy, Eva informs Delphina's husband Frank, who thereupon proposes to Marie that they encourage a marriage between Delphina and Gustav so that he, Frank, will be able to marry Marie. They go to the cabin to tell Gustav and Delphina of this decision, but when Marie starts to give Delphina detailed instructions on how to overcome the difficulties of living with a genius, Delphina hastily makes peace with Frank, and they leave. Gustav promises to reform, but upon Eva's arrival he automatically resumes his role of flatterer and seducer.