Alceste (Gluck)

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Opera dates (Italian version)
Title: Alceste
Original language: Italian
Music: Christoph Willibald Gluck
Libretto : Ranieri de 'Calzabigi
Literary source: Euripides Alkestis (only core of the plot)
Premiere: December 26, 1767
Place of premiere: Vienna
Playing time: approx. 2 ½ hours
Place and time of the action: Thessaly, in mythical times (before the Trojan War)
people
  • Admeto , King of Pherai in Thessaly ( tenor )
  • Alceste , his wife ( soprano )
  • Eumelo and Aspasia, their children (sopranos)
  • Evandro, confidante of Admetos (tenor)
  • Ismene, confidante Alcestes (soprano)
  • A crier ( bass )
  • A priest Apollos (tenor)
  • Apollo (tenor)
  • Oracle (bass)
  • A god of the underworld (bass)
  • Courtiers, citizens, court ladies Alcestes, priests Apollos, gods of the underworld (choir)
  • People of Pherai , gods of the underworld, court ladies Alcestes (pantomime)
  • Priest Apollos, court ladies Alcestes, courtiers, court ladies Alcestes, people (ballet)
Opera dates (French version)
Title: Alceste
Original language: French
Music: Christoph Willibald Gluck
Libretto : François-Louis Gand Le Bland Du Roullet, repackaging based on the text by Ranieri de 'Calzabigi
Literary source: Alcestis of Euripides
Premiere: April 23, 1776
Place of premiere: Paris
Playing time: approx. 2 ¼ hours
Place and time of the action: Thessaly, in mythical times (before the Trojan War)
people
  • Admète, King of Thessaly ( Haute-Contre )
  • Alceste, his wife (soprano)
  • Two children of the two ( silent roles )
  • High Priest Apollos (Bass)
  • Évandre, popular leader from Pherai (Haute-Contre)
  • A Herald of Arms (Bass)
  • Hercule (bass)
  • Apollon (bass)
  • The Oracle (Bass)
  • A god of the underworld (bass)
  • Four choir leaders (soprano, alto, tenor, bass)
  • People, gods of the underworld (chorus)
  • Women in Alcestes' entourage, palace overseers, Hercule's entourage (extras)
  • Priests, priestesses, people (pantomime and ballet)

Alceste is the name of an opera in three acts. It was composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck based on a libretto by Ranieri de 'Calzabigi . In 1767 it was premiered as “tragedia” in Italian in Vienna . Gluck later reworked his work for the Paris Opera , which resulted in a version in French, which was premiered there in 1776. The Paris version not only differs in terms of text from the Italian version played in Vienna, but also forms a comprehensive musical reworking of the work.

Action (Paris 1776)

The opera is about the classic legend about Alcestis (Italian and French Alceste ). The Thessalian King Admète is dying, but the gods promise to spare his life if someone else sacrifices himself instead of him. Queen Alceste agrees. She dies despite the admète's pleading that she should take him. However, Hercule vows to save both of them. He descends into the underworld and frees Alceste; at the same time he protects Admète so that in the end both can live happily.

first act

A herald announces to the people waiting in front of the royal palace that no more help can be expected for the dying admète. In association with Queen Alceste and her two sons, the people beg the gods for mercy.

Metamorphosis: The Queen and the people pray and sacrifice in the Temple of Apollo. The oracle proclaims: "Le Roi doit mourir aujourd'hui, / si quelqu'autre au trépas ne se livre pour lui." (Stage translation: "Admetos is dedicated to the Styx, / if another does not make a sacrifice for him." ) Alceste is ready to sacrifice himself for her husband. The high priest announces to her that the gods accept the sacrifice.

Second act

The people cheerfully surround the convalescent king. When he asks who has sacrificed himself for him, he is advised to enjoy life without asking for it. But he notices that Alceste is oppressed by a secret grief. At his urging, she confesses her secret to him. But he doesn't want to live without them either, he wants to try to prevent the terrible.

Third act

In front of the palace, the people mourn the fate of the royal family. After a long wandering Heracles came to see his friend Admet. When he is told of the lot of Alcester, he decides to wrest the queen from them in spite of the gods.

Metamorphosis: At the gates of the underworld, Alceste is ready to sacrifice himself. The gods of death reject them until after sunset. Admetos joins them and is determined to die with his wife. While the two husbands are still trying to dissuade themselves from their decisions, Thanatos approaches as darkness falls and has Alceste kidnapped. The rushing Admet is held back by Herakles, who now penetrates into the underworld himself and in a wild fight snatches their sacrifice from the gods of death. Apollo reunites Alceste and Admetos, who are surrounded by the cheering people.

instrumentation

  • Italian version: 2 flutes, chalumeau , 2 oboes, 2 English horns, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, strings, basso continuo.
  • French version: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, strings, basso continuo; Incidental music: trumpet.

expenditure

Italian version

  • First edition: Alceste. Tragedia. Trattnern , Vienna 1769.
  • New edition: Alceste (Viennese version from 1767). Tragedia per musica in three acts (= Gluck: Complete Works. Department 1, Volume 3, edited by Gerhard Croll). Bärenreiter , Kassel 1988.

French version

  • First edition: Alceste. Tragedy opera en trois actes. Bureau d'abonnement musical, Paris around 1777, the score ( digitized by Gallica ).
  • New edition: Alceste (Paris version 1776). Musical drama in 3 acts (= Gluck: Complete Works. Department 1, Volume 7, edited by Rudolf Gerber ). Bärenreiter, Kassel 1957.

Recordings (selection)

Italian version (Vienna 1767)

  • 1957: The Geraint Jones Orchestra & Singers conducted by Geraint Jones. Admeto: Raoul Jobin; Alceste: Kirsten Flagstad; Eumelo: Joan Clark; Aspasia: Rosemary Thayer; Evandro: Alexander Young; Ismene: Marion Lowe; Crier: James Atkins; High Priest Apollos: Thomas Hemsley; Apollo: Thomas Hemsley; the Oracle: James Atkins. Decca 436 234-2 (3 CDs, 170'28).
  • 1998: Choir & Orchestra of the Drottningholm Theater under the direction of Arnold Östman. Admeto: Justin Lavender; Alceste: Teresa Ringholz; Eumelo: Adam Giertz; Aspasia: Emelie Clausen; Evandro: Jonas Dergerfeldt; Ismene: Miriam Treichl; Crier: Matthias Nilsson; High Priest Apollos: Lars Martinsson; Apollo: Lars Martinsson; Oracle: Johan Lilja. Naxos (3 CDs, 146'55).

French version (Paris 1776)

  • 1999: English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi Choir under the direction of John Eliot Gardiner. Admète: Paul Groves; Alceste: Anne Sofie von Otter; High Priest Apollos: Dietrich Henschel; Évandre: Yann Beuron; Herald of Arms: Ludovic Tézier; Hercule: Dietrich Henschel; Choir leaders: Katharina Fuge, Joanne Lunn; Apollon: Ludovic Tézier; Oracle: Nicholas Testé; a god of the underworld: Nicholas Testé; Philips 470 293-2 (2 CDs, live London, 134'35); Arthaus / Naxos 100160 (DVD, live Paris).

Productions (selection)

literature

  • Rudolf Gerber : Foreword. In: Christoph Willibald Gluck: Alkestis. Paris version (“Alceste”). Score. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1971.
  • Sabine Henze-Döhring : Alceste (1767) / Alceste (1776) . In: Carl Dahlhaus et al. (Ed.): Piper's Encyclopedia of Music Theater. Volume 2. Piper, Munich 1987, pp. 442-448.
  • Leo Melitz: Guide through the operas . Globus-Verlag, Berlin 1914, p. 30.
  • Horst Seeger : Opera Lexicon . Heinrichshofens-Verlag, Wilhelmshaven 1979, ISBN 3-7959-0271-1 , p. 22.

Web links

Commons : Alceste  - collection of images, videos and audio files