Aladin (opera)
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| Title: | Aladdin |
| Shape: | Opera in three acts |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Kurt Atterberg |
| Libretto : | Bruno Hardt-Warden and Ignaz Michael Welleminsky |
| Literary source: | Fairy tale Aladdin from Arabian Nights |
| Premiere: | March 18, 1941 |
| Place of premiere: | Stockholm Royal Opera |
| Playing time: | about 2 hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Samarkand, fairytale time |
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Aladin (also written Aladdin in some sources ) is an adaptation of the fairy tale Aladin from the Arabian Nights by Kurt Atterberg for the opera . The libretto is by Bruno Hardt-Warden and Ignaz Michael Welleminsky .
Emergence
The idea for the composition (op. 43) arose from August 1936, when the composer met the librettists in Garmisch. The libretto was largely completed and On July 15, 1937, Atterberg began composing the piano version. On August 24, 1940, the piano version was completed and Atterberg began with the orchestration, which he completed on January 28, 1941. The overture, however, was only composed for the German premiere. Atterberg and his wife translated the original German version of the libretto into Swedish. Since Welleminsky was Jewish, the publisher was not allowed to name him as a librettist.
The long time it was made was due to Atterberg's heavy workload, including conducting and functionary activities, but also the beginning of the Second World War.
Performance history
Aladin premiered in Swedish in 1941 at the Royal Stockholm Opera under the baton of SA Axelson. Atterberg was satisfied with the staging except for the dances, but the resounding success with only 11 performances remained.
Einar Andersson (Aladin), Ruth Moberg (Yasmine), Joël Berglund (Muluk), Björn Forsell , Arne Wirén, Leon Björker and Folke Johnson sang at the world premiere .
The German premiere took place on October 18, 1941 at the Chemnitz Opera House . Although the director judged euphorically: “Already after the overture there was strong applause, which increased from picture to picture and in the end grew into lively ovations. Believe in the lasting success of this popular work. ”The success was modest and there has been no further performance since then.
On March 11, 2017, the world's only third production took place at the Braunschweig State Theater under the musical direction of Jonas Alber, which was broadcast live on Deutschlandradio Kultur and was enthusiastically received by critics. The leading roles were sung by Michael Ha (Aladin), Solen Mainguene (Laila), Frank Blees (Nazzreddin), Selcuk Hakan Tirasoglu (beggar / Jababirah) and Oleksandr Pushniak (Muluk). For reasons of political correctness, however, the performance deviates from the libretto of 1941 and relocates the plot to the present, in a former Central Asian Soviet republic.
music
Since his first composition Op. 1 in 1913, Atterberg had repeatedly dealt with oriental motifs, but without lasting success. He adopted numerous ideas from these compositions for this opera.
The work makes use of a late romantic-dramatic tonal language. "In this opera, luminous timbres, large melodic lines and folkloristic-oriental sprinkles dominate". Other critics see the opera as a “musical cross between the orientalism of the operas by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov with the string movements and background choirs of American tube radio hits ...” While Atterberg's symphonies can still be heard in concerts, Aladin, like his other operas, has been forgotten. There was no recording of the work before the recording of the Braunschweig performance, only the overture of the same name (op.44), subtitled as Perpetuum mobile Orientale , had been recorded.
Instrumentation
The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:
- Woodwinds : two flutes (including piccolo ), two oboes (also cor anglais ), two clarinets (also clarinet and bass clarinet ), two bassoons
- Brass : four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba
- Timpani , percussion (three players): Oriental timpani, two triangles , tambourine , snare drum , bass drum , cymbals , tam-tam
- harp
- Piano , celesta
- Banda : two oboes, two clarinets, three trumpets
- Strings : six violins 1, four violins 2, three violas , three cellos , two double basses
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Christian Steinbock and Stieg Jacobson: ... that all listeners are tied up. In: Program booklet, Staatstheater Braunschweig, 2017, pp. 14–20.
- ↑ Aladdin , meeting on musirony, accessed on 29 January 2017th
- ↑ March 18, 1941: "Aladdin". In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia ..
- ↑ Karl-Josef Kutsch , Leo Riemens : Large singer lexicon . Volume 4, 4th edition, de Gruyter, 2004
- ↑ a b c Aladin , Staatstheater Braunschweig, accessed on March 11, 2017.
- ^ Erik Levi: Opera in the Nazi period. In: John London (ed.): Theater under the Nazis. Manchester University Press, 2000, pp. 136-186.
- ↑ a b c Norddeutscher Rundfunk: Aladin: Premiere for a forgotten opera , accessed on March 11, 2017.
- ^ Deutschlandradio Kultur: Schleierhaft Schön , accessed on March 11, 2017.
- ↑ a b c Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: The state ends and happiness begins , March 13, 2017.
- ↑ Christian Biskup: A world full of small miracles. In: Program booklet, Staatstheater Braunschweig, 2017, pp. 34–35.
- ↑ Aladdin. Work information from Sikorski , accessed on March 30, 2017.
- ↑ Aladdin. Work information (PDF) from Sikorski , accessed on March 30, 2017.