Armida (Dvořák)

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Opera dates
Title: Armida
Poster of the world premiere in 1904

Poster of the world premiere in 1904

Shape: Opera in four acts
Original language: Czech
Music: Antonín Dvořák
Libretto : Jaroslav Vrchlický
Literary source: Torquato Tasso: The Liberated Jerusalem
Premiere: March 25, 1904
Place of premiere: Prague National Theater
Playing time: about 3 hours
Place and time of the action: Damascus and environs, during the First Crusade in the late 11th century
people
  • Hydraot, King in Damascus ( Bass )
  • Armida, his daughter ( soprano )
  • Isms, rulers in Syria and magicians ( baritone )
  • Bohumír z Bouillonu ( Godfrey of Bouillon ), General of the Crusade (baritone)
  • Petr, Hermit (bass)
  • Rinald, crusader ( tenor )
  • Gernand, crusader (bass)
  • Dudo, crusader (tenor)
  • Ubald, crusader (bass)
  • Sven, crusader (tenor)
  • Roger, crusader (tenor)
  • Herald (bass)
  • Muezzin (baritone)
  • Siren (soprano)
  • Sirens, nymphs, fairies, knights, royal entourage in Damascus, Christians, pagans, slaves, army ( chorus )

Armida (Op. 115; Burghauser 206) is an opera in four acts by Antonín Dvořák (music) with a libretto by Jaroslav Vrchlický based on Torquato Tasso's epic The Liberated Jerusalem . The first performance took place on March 25, 1904 in the Prague National Theater.

action

first act

Gardens of the Royal Palace in Damascus

Scene 1. Men and women enjoy peace at King Hydraot's court. A muezzin directs her thoughts to Allah.

Scene 2. The magical Syrian ruler Ismen tells of the arrival of the Christian crusader army under its leader Bohumír z Bouillonu ( Godfrey of Bouillon ). He wanted to conquer the whole country under the pretext of freeing the tomb of Christ. Hydraot calls for a fight against the invaders. But Ismen does not trust the strength of the Damascene army and instead proposes a ruse: Hydraot should persuade his daughter Armida, who is also capable of magic, to go to the opposing camp in order to confuse the knights with her beauty and sow discord among them.

Scene 3. When Armida appears, she hardly listens to her father - her thoughts are so much with a strange knight (Rinald) whom she recently met while on a hunt. When Hydraot has finally explained his request, Armida refuses. Even threats from her father cannot change her mind. Ismen then shows her a magical vision of the Christian camp to show her the gravity of the situation. Armida notices her lover among the knights and accepts the task.

Second act

The Christian camp near Damascus

Scene 1. The assembled crusaders celebrate worship with the hermit Petr.

Scene 2. The knights Gernand, Roger, Dudo and Sven can't wait to finally start the fight. Ubald turns her attention to a herald.

Scene 3. The Herald asks those present to assemble in front of the general's tent.

Scene 4. The knights eagerly await Bohumír's speech.

Scene 5. Armida, dressed in black and veiled, appears in the camp and demands to speak to the leader. Immediately there is unrest among the knights. Petr realizes the danger posed by the apparently grieving woman. He tries in vain to get her out of the camp. Rinald, on the other hand, offers Armida his knightly help. The two recognize each other and rave about their mutual love.

Scene 6. As Bohumír steps out of his tent, Rinald asks him to listen to Armida. After introducing herself, she tells a tale of lies: Her uncle blinded her father Hydraot and thrown him into dungeon to usurp power himself. Since she did not want to be at his will, he banished her brother to the desert. She then fled the city to ask the crusaders for assistance in their revenge and the liberation of their father. You know a secret way into town. Rinald and many other knights are immediately ready to help her. Bohumír, who cannot do without so many of his people, decides to let the lot decide who can go with Armida.

Scene 7. Rinald and Armida have a moment to themselves. Since they do not want to rely on the lot, they decide to flee.

Scene 8. Petr becomes suspicious but can no longer prevent the escape, as Ismen appears with a magic wagon pulled by dragons and takes Armida and Rinald away

Third act

Armida's magic garden

Scene 1. Armida and Rinald enjoy their love in a magic garden in the middle of the desert. Sirens, nymphs and fairies praise the beauty and peaceful atmosphere of the garden.

Scene 2. Ismen watches the couple jealously because he has his eyes on Armida himself.

Scene 3. While Rinald sleeps, Ismen reminds Armida of her duty to kill Rinald. But Armida stands by her love and refuses. Neither Ismen's own declaration of love nor his warnings about the crusader's malice can change her mind. Finally he threatens to collapse the whole palace with the magic garden above them. In return, Armida refers to her own magical powers.

Scene 4. When Rinald wakes up, Ismens and Armida's magical abilities battle it out. It immediately makes the palace and garden, destroyed by isms, appear again in full splendor. The humiliated ism swears vengeance.

Scene 5. The sirens lure two crusaders who are looking for Rinald. Ismen immediately recognizes its opportunity.

Scene 6. The knights Ubald and Sven ask Ismen about the owner of the castle. Ismen tells them that Armida built it for Rinald and that it is guarded by countless demons. However, in the vaults of the castle there is the diamond shield of St. Michael, through whose magnetic power they can win Rinald back. He will show them the way there.

Scene 7. Sirens and nymphs sing of love.

Scene 8. Ubald and Sven have successfully acquired the Diamond Shield and advanced as far as Rinald and Armida. They hold the shield in front of Rinald's eyes, wrest him from Armida's power and lead him away. Ismen can now destroy the castle.

Fourth act

Oasis, in the distance the Christian camp

Scene 1. Rinald, who was wounded in a fight, remembers the events of the past few days. He deeply regrets his betrayal and asks God for forgiveness.

Scene 2. His friends Ubald, Sven and Petr come back to the oasis where they had to leave Rinald after the attack by the Moors. You assure him that his sins are forgiven. Rinald is full of energy.

Scene 3. The crusaders are pushing for Damascus. Rinald wants to fight, but is still too weak. Petr suggests handing him the diamond shield. When Rinald hits it, his wounds heal spontaneously.

Scene 4. Suddenly Ismen appears and attacks Rinald. Rinald gains the upper hand. To save his life, Ismen promises him news of Armida. But Rinald doesn't want to have anything more to do with her. He kills isms.

Scene 5. A knight in black armor approaches. Rinald stabs this one too. He realizes too late that it is Armida himself. He blesses and baptizes her, whereupon she dies in his arms. In the distance, the confident cries of the crusaders can be heard.

layout

Score autograph of the overture

Instrumentation

The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:

libretto

Jaroslav Vrchlický's libretto is based on the Armida episode from Torquato Tasso's epic The Liberated Jerusalem, which has already been set to music many times . In the final scene he mixed another well-known episode of the same original, the fight between Tancredi and Clorinda. In it Tancredi unknowingly kills his lover Clorinda, because he does not recognize her in her armor, and baptizes her before her death. Claudio Monteverdi had already processed this episode in his madrigal Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda .

The original text takes place in an oriental-exotic world. The main topics are the contrasts between Islam and Christianity and the conflict between love and duty. Vrchlický depicts love in his libretto more in the sense of romanticism. His text also shows logical weaknesses and errors in the verse structure, which Dvořák largely compensated for with musical means.

music

As in Rusalka , Dvořák's composition is mainly based on leitmotifs , which not only characterize people, but also symbols such as Michael's diamond shield, the cross of Christ or the army of the crusaders. Dvořák achieved the sensual, oriental atmosphere, which is rather untypical for his works, through melodies and harmonies as well as through the instrumentation. For example, he combined women's voices with harps and woodwinds. The special tone of this opera is a further development of Dvořák's American style. Whole-tone scales , pentatonic scales and other exoticisms are reminiscent of his 9th Symphony . The strict chorale-like crusader chants are contrasted with orientalism.

Work history

Růžena Maturová as Armida

Armida is the last of Dvořák's ten operas. The librettist Jaroslav Vrchlický wrote the text for the composer Karel Kovařovic as early as 1888 , but he gave up the setting after several attempts (he only came to the middle of the second act). Then Vrchlický offered the libretto to Karel Bendl and Zdeněk Fibich , but neither showed any interest. Dvořák, who had already set his oratorio The Holy Ludmilla to a text by Kovařovic, accepted his offer when, after his success with Rusalka in 1901, he was looking for a suitable libretto for his next opera, especially since his then main librettist Jaroslav Kvapil had no time. He began composing on March 11, 1902 and finished on August 23, 1903.

Rehearsals for the premiere began in autumn 1903. Dvořák himself had chosen the soloists. The opera director Kovařovic was originally intended to be the musical director, but he left the country at the beginning of 1904 for health reasons. The circumstances surrounding his departure have not been fully clarified. It may have played a role that Kovařovic himself had given up setting the libretto a few years earlier. At Dvořák's request, František Picka took over the remaining samples. According to several reports, the mood was extremely tense. Dvořák often intervened in rehearsals. He even left a rehearsal with the score and threatened to cancel the project. On the day of the main rehearsal, Bohumil Ptak, the singer of Rinald, declared himself indisposed, whereupon the world premiere had to be postponed by three weeks.

Emil Pollert (Hydraot), Růžena Maturová (Armida), Bohumil Benoni (Isms), Václav Viktorin (Bohumír z Bouillonu), Václav Kliment (Petr), Bohumil Pták (Rinald), sang at the premiere on March 25, 1904 in the Prague National Theater , Robert Polák (Gernand), Bedřich Bohuslav (Dudo), František Šír (Ubald), Adolf Krössing (Sven), Hynek Švejda (Roger), Otakar Chmel (Herald), Jan Vildner (Muezzin), Marie Kubátová (Siren). František Picka directed the choir and orchestra of the National Theater. Robert Polák was the director.

The premiere had little success. There were only six subsequent performances. One reason for this could be the libretto, which did not follow the verismo style popular in Czech opera of the time . The staging was also inadequately rehearsed. The music itself was well received by the audience, but Dvořák had already left the theater at the time of the applause because he felt uncomfortable. He died just a few weeks later on May 1st.

Later performances in the Prague National Theater in 1928 (conductor: Otakar Ostrčil ), 1942 (conductor: Vâclav Talich ) and 1946 (conductor: František Skvor), as well as in other Czech cities (Plzen 1925 and 1943, Brno 1935 and 1994, Olomouc 1936, Ostrava 1941, 1991 and 2012 as well as Liberec 1968) were better received and also appreciated by foreign critics. The last production there so far was in 1987 under the direction of František Vajnar . The only production so far outside of Czechoslovakia was in Bremen in 1961 with Montserrat Caballé in the title role.

Recordings

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Véra Vyslouzilovâ: Armida. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 2: Works. Donizetti - Henze. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1987, ISBN 3-492-02412-2 , pp. 106-108.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Armida. Work information at antonin-dvorak.cz, accessed on December 9, 2016.
  3. ^ A b Jan Smaczny:  Armida (vii). In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
  4. ↑ a b c Antonín Dvorák. In: Andreas Ommer: Directory of all opera complete recordings. Zeno.org , volume 20.