Arlecchino or The Windows
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| Original title: |
or The Windows |
Alexander Moissi in the title role |
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| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Ferruccio Busoni |
| Libretto : | Ferruccio Busoni |
| Premiere: | May 11, 1917 |
| Place of premiere: | City Theater Zurich |
| Playing time: | approx. 1:00 hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Bergamo around the 18th century |
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Arlecchino or Die Fenster is a theatrical capriccio in an act by Ferruccio Busoni .
Emergence
After the premiere of “ Die Brautwahl ” on April 13, 1912 in Hamburg , Busoni initially returned to Berlin . On April 22nd, he embarked on a concert tour to Italy, which took him to Bergamo , Milan , Bologna , Florence and Rome . In Bologna he attended the performance of an old Commedia dell'arte from 1692 " L'inutile precauzione ". Shortly afterwards he saw the Burletta per musica “ L'occasione fa il ladro ” by Gioachino Rossini in a Roman puppet theater . After attending these two performances, the idea for his Arlecchino arose .
In September 1913 and in the spring of 1914, the first drafts of the libretto were made in Italy , the original subtitle of which was “ A puppet tragedy with music ”. The final version was written in Berlin in October 1914 after the outbreak of war, and on November 10, Busoni began work on the composition. This work was interrupted in December because the composer had to make preparations for a concert tour to the United States . There he used the sketches for the Rondo arlecchineso .
Returning from America, he resumed work on the opera in Zurich in December 1915 and was able to complete it there on August 7, 1916.
Because the one-act play was not full-length, Busoni decided to write a second opera (" Turandot "), which premiered on May 11, 1917 together with Arlecchino under the direction of the composer in the Stadttheater Zürich. The director was Hans Rogorsch , the set was designed by Albert Isler .
Until 1928 Arlecchino was staged around ten times in German-speaking countries, since then only sporadically. The work was rehearsed in Venice in 1940 , in New York in 1952 and in Glyndebourne in 1954 . The opera has appeared on the repertoire again since the 1960s, for example in 1966 in the Deutsche Oper Berlin , 1969 in Amsterdam , 1976 in Wiesbaden , 1977 in Kiel , 1978 in the Vienna Chamber Opera or 1979 in the Oberhausen Theater . There was a concert performance under Gary Bertini with Christoph Bantzer in the title role at the Berliner Festwochen 1984.
Instrumentation
2 flutes (2nd also picc ), 2 oboes (2nd also EH ), 2 clarinets , 2 bassoons , 3 horns , 2 trumpets , 3 trombones , timpani , percussion (2 players: glockenspiel , triangle , snare drum , military drum, cymbals , bass drum, tam-tam ), celesta , strings
Incidental music: 2 trumpets, timpani
action
The one-act number opera is divided into four movements consisting of a total of nine numbers, which follow one another without changing the stage setting and without interruption. Arlecchino's first appearance and the finale will take place on the apron in front of the curtain .
1 sentence
Arlecchino as a rogue
The master tailor Matteo, an unworldly dreamer, sits in front of the door of his house on a winding and mountainous street with a small square in the upper town of Bergamo . He lives more with Dante Alighieri than in real life, and while sewing a coat he reads the Divina Commedia eagerly and loudly , completely missing out on what's going on in his house.
There Arlecchino had a rendezvous with Matteo's wife Annunziata and now both of them are secretly listening to the horned husband's outbursts of enthusiasm from a window . Arlecchino finds a way out of the embarrassing and comical situation in the long run: he jumps out of the window right in front of Matteo's feet and completely intimidates him by making him believe that the "barbarians" are standing outside the city gates. After he got hold of the house key, he pushes the perplexed tailor into the house, locks the door and disappears.
Dottore and Abbate come along and are absorbed in a conversation in which they mock each other's professions. You learn from Matteo about the »barbarians« and go to the wine bar so you don't have to act.
2nd movement
Arlecchino as a warrior
Arlecchino returns, accompanied by two sbirs and disguised as an officer, to recruit Matteo to clear the way for himself and his loved ones.
3rd movement
Arlecchino as a husband
As soon as Matteo is gone, Arlecchino is disturbed by his wife Colombina on his gallant adventure with Annunciata. He manages to cunningly escape her, while Colombina finds replacement and consolation with Cavaliere Leandro. Arlecchino returns and immediately takes a look at the situation. He leads his wife into the wine bar and stabs the rival in a duel . He disappears into Matteo's house after shouting "Murder!"
4th movement
Arlecchino as the winner
The dottore and Abbate come out of the wine tavern with Colombina and the tipsy gentlemen stumble across the supposedly dead Cavaliere. From the window, Matteo's neighbors watch what is happening, noticed by the noise. The Abbate asks them for help, but one by one withdraws. Leonardo is transported away in a donkey cart on which Dottore, Abbate and Colombina have also taken their places.
The way is free for Arlecchino and he makes off with Annuntiata. Matteo, who returns home confused from a war that never took place, finds a message at home from his wife that she has gone to Vespers . He no longer understands the world, takes out his Dante and, while waiting for Annunziata, delves into the Commedia again .
The curtain closes and Arlecchino says goodbye to the audience in front of the curtain with a commentary on what has happened.
Conception
In the annals of opera, Arlecchino is a unique exception because the title role is a speaking role. Only in the first movement Arlecchino sings a single "song" behind the stage. The speaking and visible Arlecchino also stands above the plot because he is not only the main character of the musical comedy he has staged, but also the reasoning who comments on the plot and makes fun of ideals such as law, soldiery, loyalty and the fatherland. This makes him the composer's mouthpiece.
The combination of playful seriousness with bitter jokes is characteristic of the libretto. At the same time, with the exception of a capriccio in the sense of a " slight mockery of life and the stage ", the work is a satire in which egoism, war and nationalism are denounced. In the plot, the reference to the topicality of the First World War is constantly present, for example through the "barbarians" standing in front of the city gates.
Remarks
- ↑ According to his own statement, the first visit to the theater influenced the text, the second the music of his capriccio.
- ↑ "The words of the title hero ... are my own confessions" (from: " On Arlecchinos Deutung ", p. 99)
- ↑ from: " Arlecchino's career "
literature
- Piper's Encyclopedia of Music Theater , Volume 1 (Abbatini - Donizetti), pp. 475-476, Verlag R. Piper GmbH & Co. KG. Munich 1986, ISBN 3-492-02411-4