Prologue
Once upon a time, in a small village, two prominent families made an arrangement for their children to wed. The young man was the wealthy heir to a thriving business, the young woman the daughter of local aristocracy. The young woman and the young man, happily enough, fell in love at first sight. Unhappily, the young man could not remember his wedding vows. While practicing his vows in the dark forest he placed the wedding ring on a twig, which turned out to be the corpse of a beautiful young woman, murdered years ago on her way to elope. She rose from the grave, insisting that she was his rightful wife.
Whoops.
Skipping ahead a bit, now.
Eventually the Corpse Bride gave up the young man, realizing he had set her free of her earthly ties to marriage. The young man and his living young woman were happily reunited, and the Corpse Bride was at peace.
Now that's a fairy tale. Bittersweet, lovely, and a bit mysterious. Everything ends, happily ever after.
Skip ahead again to the "happily ever after" bit, already in progress.
Twenty-six years later, in the same small village, the young man and young woman from our fairy tale are not so young anymore. They are still married, and still in love, and they have four daughters. They are quite happy, living outside the village walls in a modest home, conducting themselves as solidly upper-middle-class. Not quite gentry, though not quite middling folk, either. It was a content little home for years, with so many children about. Life was easy, comfortable, and sweet, with four girls to be a comfort to their parents.
And then, those girls grew up, as girls are wont to do.
Now there are four young women in a village that hasn't seen this many young people at once since...well, ever. The oldest daughter has taken a job in the family business, with an eye to be the heir apparent. The second daughter has turned out to be the family beauty, vivacious and society-minded. The third is the quiet one, the unsure one, the dutiful and pleasant one who seems more than content to stay with her loving parents always. And the youngest, bright and energetic, has just finished her schooling and is clearly ready for an adventure. These are four wealthy heiresses with blood ties to local nobility and to local industry, all ready to begin their own lives. And in this village, that means making a good marriage. Four girls to be married, but a certain lack of young men...and a Father who is just fine with that.
This is not a fairy tale. This is the set-up to a light opera.
Victor Van Dort has never been a huge fan of light operas. And here he finds himself cast as the comic baritone, the Father. Or perhaps he is instead the lead in a Sholem Aleichem short story. That's probably a more accurate parallel.
Victor Van Dort isn't a big fan of those stories, either.