THE BLACK RIDER

Wilhelm, the clerk, falls in love with a hunter's daughter. In order to marry, Wilhelm must prove his worth as a hunter and win the approval of the girl's father. Especially since the father has intended Kätchen for another man. But Wilhelm is used to a pen, not a gun: he's a lousy shot. So, despite his love, his chances of marriage are dwindling. One day, however, everything changes: Wilhelm buys magic bullets from a lame stranger and from then on, all his shots hit - until he runs out of bullets: then he has to buy them again, and again, and again, and again.

American theatre director and visual artist Robert Wilson and singer-songwriter and composer Tom Waits' 1990 'musical fairy tale' is a transcription of Weber's opera The Magic Huntsman. The story of the opera, which premiered in 1821, is based on an extract from the transcript of a criminal trial in 18th century Bohemia and the short story that emerged from it. The script for Black Rider was written by William S. Burroughs, a prominent member of the Beat Generation, who himself found himself in a situation eerily similar to that of The Magical Hunter, when he tried to shoot the apple off his second wife's head, in an attempt to evoke the legend of William Tell. Unfortunately, the attempt failed.

And who was it who aimed Burroughs' bullet? Was it the peg-legged stranger? We'll never know... In any case, "Only a fool makes a deal with the Devil. And yet every minute there's someone who'll smack the Hound in the palm of his hand".