The Emperor's Nightingale
music theatre for 1 actress and 7 musicians (or recorded music)
The Emperor's Nightingale
The Chinese Emperor hears about a nightingale in his empire which everybody else knows of and talks about, but no one has told him. When he gets to know her at last he is enchanted. But the enchantment only lasts until the Japanese Emperor gives him a mechanical nightingale made of gold and precious stones. Now the favour of the Chinese Emperor and his court depends on this technical miracle. But one day the parts wear out and break down irreparably. The Emperor becomes melancholic about his loss and death is already knocking on his door when he recalls the real-life nightingale. She returns and sings to him, he recovers immediately and regains his will to live.