Sarlatan
| Opera dates | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The charlatan |
| Original title: | Sarlatan |
| Shape: | Opera in three acts and seven pictures |
| Original language: | Czech |
| Music: | Pavel Haas |
| Libretto : | Pavel Haas |
| Literary source: |
Josef Winckler : Doctor Eisenbart |
| Premiere: | April 2, 1938 |
| Place of premiere: | Brno State Theater |
| people | |
Extras:
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Šarlatán ( The Charlatan ) is an opera in three acts and seven pictures by the Czech composer Pavel Haas , it was premiered on April 2, 1938 in the Brno State Theater under the direction of Quido Arnoldi .
action
first act
First picture
Pustrpalk, the quack, has set up a market stall and claims to be able to cure any ailment. The young Amaranta comes to the stand and asks him to put an end to her neurasthenia . Pustrpalk asks Amaranta to sit in a basket full of nettles, whereupon she is relieved of her lethargy. The quack now persuades her to move on with him and his troops. The monk Jochimus is not happy about this, since Amaranta's husband sent him to the market with her as a “chaperone”.
Second picture
In this interlude, Pustrpalk moves with Amaranta and his troop, consisting of Bakalář (bachelor), Kyška (sour milk), Pavučina (cobweb), Zavináč (rollmops) and the like. a., from city to city.
Third picture
Pustrpalk is now completely in love with the beautiful Amaranta and is caught by his own wife Rozina as he approaches the young beauty. A violent argument ensues between the women, whereupon the troops leave the city.
Second act
First picture
The quack's troop set up camp near an old mill. Pustrpalk can't leave Amaranta and at night his advances begin again, but she lets him down. He then overhears two members of his troop who are making a plan to rob him. He confronts them and magnanimously declares that he would like to share the property in a brotherly manner in the future. The troupe is overjoyed and a party starts. This angered the miller and he threw a lamp at Zavináč, who killed Zavináč. Pustrpalk calls for calm, but the troops still set the mill on fire. The quack escapes with Bakalář and Amaranta.
Second picture
Pustrpalk, Bakalář and Amaranta come to a town that is currently in the carnival. Here the protagonist meets a quack colleague and teams up with him. Bakalář praises a universal miracle elixir. The king who is at the festival takes it and is convinced that it has given him all his strength back. He declares Pustrpalk a hero, but the people abuse him. Jochimus appears and persuades Amaranta to come with him.
Third act
First picture
Jochimus is sick and sees no other way out than to ask Pustrpalk for help. Generously and forgivingly, Pustrpalk offers him a free operation, whereupon Jochimus dies. Pustrpalk is charged with murder and flees.
Second picture
Many years later, the quack's troop met in an inn and talked about the sad crash of the former master. It pops up all at once and offers students free quarters in case they guess its name. They make it and Pustrpalk starts a song of mockery praising his previous deeds. Suddenly Jochimus appears to him, Pustrpalk draws his sword, collapses and dies.
layout
occupation
The opera Šarlatán is made up of a large ensemble and requires around 30 soloists, an orchestra, two choirs, dancers, extras and extras.
music
Within the music, a preference for short rhythmic motifs can be recognized, which à la Leoš Janáček also serve to create larger contexts. As in all of Haas' work, the influence of folk songs is omnipresent. Church modes and whole-tone scales as well as abrupt harmonic changes also characterize the music of the opera.
History of origin
In 1934, after a long search, Pavel Haas finally found a suitable opera subject in Josef Winckler's novel Doctor Eisenbart. He reworked the template himself into a libretto, but had to eliminate everything from the libretto that indicated a German milieu due to the entry into force of the Nuremberg race laws and the associated prohibition of cooperation between Jews and "Aryans". Haas referred to the medieval Czech game Mastičkář and named the main character Pustrpalk.
Recordings
- Israel Yinon , Prague State Opera Orchestra, Prague Philharmonic Choir, Decca 460 042-2, 1998
literature
- Pavel Haas. In: Lexicon of persecuted musicians from the Nazi era. Edited by Claudia Maurer Zenck and Peter Petersen with the assistance of Sophie Fetthauer, University of Hamburg, since 2005.
- Lubomír Peduzzi: Pavel Haas. Life and work of the composer. Hamburg 1996.
- Raimund Lang : Czech Eisenbart saga. Pavel Haas' opera “The Charlatan”. SK Studentenkurier 2/16, p. 16 f.