THE setting is Oblivia, a duchy in the Tyrol.
The opera tells of the adventures of Rudolph, a bandit chieftain known as ' The Count of Como.' Rudolph loves the Duke's 'daughter Silvia, and, rather than see her married by her father's orders to the ridiculous Crown Prince of Pomerania, he storms the court, deposes the Duke, and proclaims Oblivia a republic with the Court barber as President. So much for the first Act.
The second Act shows the revolution in full running. Plots and counter-plots intervene and we finally leave Rudolph (with Silvia as his bride at last) exchanging a bandit life for that of respectable finance and the Duke gaily succeeding the Presidency-amid the acclamations of the bandits, now once more loyal civil guards of Oblivia.