Bandit pranks
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Bandit pranks |
| Shape: | operetta-like singspiel |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Franz von Suppè |
| Libretto : | Ludwig Bender |
| Premiere: | April 27, 1867 |
| Place of premiere: | Vienna |
| Place and time of the action: | Port city in Italy at the beginning of the 19th century |
| people | |
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Banditenstreich is an operetta by Franz von Suppè based on a libretto by B. Boutonnier. The work was premiered on April 27, 1867 at the Carltheater in Vienna . It belongs to the golden operetta era .
Emergence
At the premiere, the operetta was still a one-act play . However, as with many of the composer's other operettas, the libretto was so weak that the work inevitably failed on stage. In order to save the play for the theater, Ludwig Bender revised the template thoroughly and expanded it into a three-act play with a tense plot. This of course required additional music. August Peter Waldenmaier put these together with great empathy from various other unknown operetta soups. In this version, the work was first staged in 1955 as a "Komische Oper".
orchestra
Two flutes , two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons , four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , a harp , a guitar , large percussion and strings
action
The operetta takes place in a small port town in the Gulf of Naples at the beginning of the 19th century.
first act
Image: garden terrace
Malandrino, disguised as an old servant, learns from the parish clerk Spaccamonti that Lidia, the daughter of Mayor Babbeo, will be married in a few hours. The naive writer does not notice that Malandrino is actually the notorious head of a band of robbers. He also misses the fact that he should only be listened to because the bandits are planning a new prank: In the hustle and bustle of the wedding celebration, a coup could very well be carried out because all the guests are busy eating, drinking and dancing. Malandrino easily manages to lure Spaccamonti and the police into the mountains by following the wrong track. He simply claims that the robber captain is up there and can easily be caught.
The bride and groom are ready to get married; but the cunning Babbeo hesitates more and more to agree. He doesn't like Gaetano as a son-in-law. Instead of this having-nothing, he would rather see his daughter take rich Lelio from Aversa as husband. When Babbeo is given a letter from the same Lelio, his features brighten. The preferred candidate asks him for his daughter's hand and assures that they are already on their way to see him. The mayor then sends the wedding guests home and explains that the celebration will be postponed. He doesn't want to see Gaetano either, when Lidia could do a better match now.
The bride is utterly desperate. For her, only Gaetano comes into question as a husband. Her friend Stella recommends that the equally unhappy groom should turn to the bandit captain Malandrino and tell him about his misfortune. The captain always understands young lovers and knows how to help them in his own way. Although Stella doesn't know the chief bandit at all, she raves about him because the rumor gets around that he only conquers the rich and gives the poor some of his booty.
Second act
Image: Marketplace
After the unsuccessful wedding, Gaetano intends to secretly kidnap his bride. In doing so, he meets the chief of the bandits and describes his misery to him. When Malandrino then hears that Gaetano's rival should have actually already arrived at the port, he has an idea.
In the meantime, Babbeo has instructed the schoolmaster Tondolo to pick Lelio up at the port. However, before this reaches his goal, he is attacked and robbed by Malandrino's cronies. The robber captain arrives and plays the philanthropist by ordering the gang to return all the booty to the robber. Tondolo is beaming with happiness and now wants to do his savior a favor. Malandrino suggests robbing the arriving suitor together. Because Tondolo doesn't like his client Babbeo anyway, he likes to be persuaded to do so.
Everything works like clockwork. Lelio not only gets rid of his money bag, but also has to swap clothes with Malandrino. In Lelios habit , Malandrino calls the people over and pretends to be the wealthy suitor of Babbeo's daughter who was almost ambushed by a robber. Together with the schoolmaster, however, he had succeeded in making this arrested. In no time the supposed bandit is arrested and put in jail.
Malandrino introduces himself to the mayor as Lelio. In indulgent words, he describes how he managed to pull the long-sought bandit captain out of circulation. Babbeo is clearly proud to soon be able to call such a capable hero his son-in-law. Of course, he also receives the reward of 1000 ducats for catching the robber .
After Lidia has received a promise from Malandrino that he will bring her love for Gaetano to a happy end, she makes a pretense of his advertising and plays with him as a couple. Her friend Stella, however, believes she sees the arrested Lelio as the noble robber whom she has swarmed around, and immediately falls madly in love with him. But when it is said that tomorrow he will have to end his life on the gallows , she can no longer be comforted.
Third act
Image: A loggia
The next morning the wedding preparations are in full swing. Babbeo can't wait for the marriage contract to finally be signed. The “groom” plays for time and encourages Lidia to sing a happy song. Meanwhile, "Lelios" supposed friends - in truth it is the bandit band - surround the wedding party. The hustle and bustle is abruptly interrupted when the parish clerk Spaccamonti appears and announces that the one who is languishing in prison is not the robber chief, but Lelio from Aversa. The real Malandrino, however, is Tondolo. Now Malandrino thinks the time has come to end the wrong game. With his pistol drawn, he airs his incognito, presents Gaetano with Lelio's money bag and the 1000 ducat head bonus and forces the mayor to agree to his daughter's marriage contract with Gaetano. But because the bandits also want something for themselves, they quickly relieve the wedding guests of their valuables. Even so, most of them make good faces to the bad game because the bandit pranks made a loving couple happy.
music
The work is richly endowed with sparkling melodies. In addition to the solo chants , ensemble movements and tasks for the ballet are not neglected. The only musical highlights are Malandrino's songs Southern Sun, Blue Sky and Sweet Lures, their picture and the waltz sung by the choir Let your head just don't hang down .
Discography (selection)
- Complete recording: Kurt Böhme , Erika Köth , Hertha Töpper , choir and orchestra of Bavarian Radio , Werner Schmidt-Boelcke (1954) - CD Walhall
- Overture: Orchester symphonique de Montréal , Charles Dutoit (1985) - CD Decca , distributed by Universal
Web links
- Bandit Pranks : Sheet Music and Audio Files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Bandit pranks in the operetta dictionary