About the work
Der vierjährige Posten is a one-act Singspiel by Franz Schubert to a libretto by Theodor Körner, based on a purportedly true anecdote from the Napoleonic Wars. Schubert composed the score in May 1815 in just eleven days – his first completed venture into German Singspiel. Unperformed during his lifetime, the work received its premiere only on 23 September 1896 at the Dresden Court Opera, followed a year later by a Vienna adaptation by Robert Hirschfeld.
Plot
The French soldier Heinrich Duval was accidentally left behind four years earlier in a German border village during his unit's retreat, and has since married the village judge's daughter. When the French army returns, he resumes his guard post to avoid being branded a deserter; only an understanding general spares him punishment and finally discharges him from military service.
Cultural significance
The work follows the tradition of French rescue opera in the manner of Beethoven, combining the triumph of love over war with humanist pathos; today it has largely vanished from the repertoire and survives on record through a single 1998 studio recording.