Beer opera

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In student associations, a beer opera is a musical stage play with a humorous content, the texts of which are sung according to well-known opera melodies , folk or student songs.

Essence and effect

Beer operas have been around since at least the 18th century. They correspond to the student's tendency to parody serious content and processes , as can be seen in the entire student ritual . Beer operas evolved from so-called beer facial expressions , i.e. partly prepared, partly improvised cheerful scenes, and often became travesties in well-known theater plays or operas. A spectator around 1920 called it a pleasure for general amusement and instruction . Often, parodic singing games only became beer operas through the enthusiastic reception and repetition of the students.

Often, beer operas were and are written and performed by liaison members as accompanying events to foundation festivals. The performance definitely requires comedic and musical skills if it wants to develop its comedy to the full. Above all, the Bieranist or Kistenschinder , i.e. the musician who accompanies the dramatic events on the piano, requires experience, patience and a talent for improvisation. The comedy is mostly based on the alleged seriousness in the portrayal of ridiculous events, on the demonstrative mockery of authorities or historical events and almost always on grossly exaggerated drasticism (e.g. double suicide of an unhappy couple in love with the help of a pencil sharpened on both sides). The beer opera also includes the violently acclaiming reactions of the audience, which loudly expresses applause or disapproval and can also demand the repetition of scenes through heckling ("Once again" - Bavarian-Austrian: "No amoi!"). The effect of the beer opera results from this interplay between actors and spectators and the resulting, crazy atmosphere. Subtle comedy is hardly in demand. Of course, knowledge of local conditions, events and people is often required to understand the joke.

Well-known beer operas

A musical farce has come down to us from a member of the Bach family, Johann Nikolaus Bach (1669–1753), which can be described as an early beer opera. The Jena wine and beer caller was created between 1720 and 1745 and describes in a crude way how two students think a landlord is the best. Even earlier, namely in 1705, two beer operas from Arnstadt can be documented, albeit without any student reference: Carneval as a traitor to Eckel before the holy Lent and The Wisdom of the Authorities in the Order of Brewing Beer . Its author is the Arnstadt city and country school rector Johann Friedrich Driver (1642–1719). There are likely to have been numerous products of this type, but very few of them have survived or have so far been found.

In the early 19th century, the Wroclaw student Hermann Wollheim (1817–1855) wrote several successful student songs and later, already as a doctor, a student beer opera, which brought lasting fame: Tannhäuser and the fight at the Wartburg in four acts is in The original from 1852 has been lost and the first print from 1854 can no longer be found, but in 1931 in the Corps history of the Breslauer Corps Silesia , for which Wollheim wrote the piece, a text version was published that possibly corresponds or at least comes close to the original text. In any case, this work became the model for the Tannhäuser parody by Johann Nestroy ( Tannhäuser or Die Keilerei auf der Wartburg ), which was premiered in Vienna in 1857.

Richard Thiele (1847–1903) from Berlin, a professional musician and composer, can be regarded as a "main master" of the beer opera. Thiele held the position of organist at the Anglican St. Georges Church in Berlin for 23 years . In addition, he was Kapellmeister at the Kroll'schen Theater , for which he wrote a number of stage music. With Rinaldo Rinaldini he succeeded in a classic of the beer opera that is still popular today. His singing burlesque Tannhäuser im Purgatory or The Solution of an Old Conflict , which contains a large number of student songs and is still being performed, as well as Don Juan von Rückwärts or The delighted stone guest , A famous court hearing , The Schreifritz or Der have also been preserved - probably from 1899 sample thrust , A Theekränzchen a century ago , the singer's curse and the brunch attributable its very nature, the kind of beer opera.

A few shorter pieces have come down to us from the author and composer Richard Heinze (1845–1893). From him come Das jolly prison , Kunibert von Schreckenstein , A new singer's war on the Wartburg , A jolly court session , The robber baron , the two Schiller parodies Die Bürgschaft and Der Taucher as well as the Goethe parody Der Erlkönig . Heinze had been a teacher at the Knaben Bürger Schule II in Kassel since 1866 . Among other things, he wrote a Casseler dance album : 12 original dances in a light variety with humorous text; that was already his printed opus 179.

Further biographical data are missing for the composer Josef Piber (1857–1922), of whom, in addition to his two works Eduard and Kunigunde and Die Brautschau, a Schiller parody The Diver has also been preserved.

The Viennese Joachim Perinet (1763-1816) also made a relevant contribution with his opera parody Ariadne auf Naxos from 1803. It is expressly referred to as the musical foolishness of the opera of the same name , although due to the large number of Ariadne operas in the 18th century it can only be assumed that it is the melodrama by Georg Anton Benda from 1775.

The Leipzig University Choirs St. Pauli and Arion had a great beer opera tradition in the 19th century . They too were based on the parody of great literary and musical models; thus emerged with the Paulines in 1862 Die Trichinierinnen (a parody of Sophocles' Die Trachinierinnen ), 1864 Der glove , 1865 The Ring des Polykrates with victuals and in 1866 the Lohengrin parody Bohnengrün , with the Arionen 1868 Saturnalia , 1869 Alkibiades and Hipparete or Small Causes, great effects or the fateful dumpling spoon , 1871 Sophocles at the Olympic Games and 1878 the beautiful Camillo or the faithful geese . The Dresden university singers Erato were inspired by their fellow students in Leipzig and in 1868 produced Ms. Vasco, the beautiful Afrikanärrin or Der schlage Marineoffizier (a parody of Meyerbeer's very popular opera Die Afrikanerin, which premiered in 1865 ) and in 1873 The Princess of Cannibals or Foolishness and Photography . Many of these performances took place around Christmas time and were also known as Christmas operettas. So their artistic standards were somewhat higher than those of the beer operas, but they are very close to their essence.

This Leipzig tradition was not lost in the 20th century either, and performances continued into the 1930s. In 1960, the Paulinen reunited at their new location in Mainz, whereby not only the content of the new era was adapted, but also the form of the presentation, which now emphasized the satirical-cabaret element.

Viennese beer opera tradition

Today Vienna can be regarded as the center of the beer opera tradition. The reason for this is that, after a successful performance of Rinaldini in 1972, the First Vienna Beer Opera Ensemble was established there and has since remained active in constantly renewed formations. It was founded within the academic association Bajuvaria and the members still come exclusively from the Austrian Cartel Association . The ensemble performs all over Austria, also outside of student parties, and has made several guest appearances in Germany. By the end of 2012 they had over 470 performances. The genre was also enriched by several self-composed pieces, such as Richard the Lionheart (1973 by Michael Seidler), Ritter Blaubart (1976 by Peter Hofbauer ), Crown Prince Rudolf's Last Love (1986), Mozart and Don Juan (1993), Romeo and Juliet and Die pernicious consequences of enmity (2003) Don Quichotte (2010) and Faust (2013; all by Wolfgang Rohr). The repertoire also includes the classic beer operas Rinaldo Rinaldini and Tannhäuser in Purgatory, as well as the short pieces, usually played as encores, Die Bürgschaft and Der Taucher . This ensemble also created the following definition: A beer opera, that is beer glasses instead of opera glasses and taverns instead of Tannhäuser .

The Viennese Pennal Association, Borussia, which was founded in 1922 and belongs to the Mittelschüler-Kartell-Verband , can also refer to a long tradition of beer opera . Their performances were always members' own creations and thrived on very personal allusions. No less than five productions can be traced before the Second World War, including Hamlet, Prinz vom Tandelmarkt , the text of which was lost. This tradition was followed up in the last 1970s and since then new works have been produced at irregular intervals: Heinrich the Last - Henricus ultimus (1979), Dracula or Knoblauch does not spoil (1983), Das verliebte Gespenst (1992), Die Couleurmaschine or Vaganten have a hard time (1997), Galgenfreud's last love (2007) and most recently, in autumn 2012, Hotel Oriental .

Other works

The performance of a beer opera Dalibor or Der Boehm by Franz Pawlowski by the Vienna Academic Choral Society on November 4, 1898 in the Sophiensaele had notable consequences for international musical culture . The title reveals a double parody: on the one hand to Friedrich Smetana's Czech national Dalibor opera from 1868, on the other hand to La Bohème Giacomo Puccini, which had just premiered two years earlier with enormous success . The special thing about this performance was that a young medical student from Salzburg appeared and made such an excellent impression that he broke off his studies and embarked on a career as a singer. Already four years later he made his debut in Bayreuth, seven years later he was an Austrian chamber singer. It is the bass Richard Mayr , who in the 1920s became the epitome of the ox on Lerchenau in Richard Strauss ' Rosenkavalier .

In 1953 a beer opera "Faust" is documented as a significantly improved Goethe at the Markomannia Brünn in Karlsruhe. In the same year the Höhentübingen zu Tübingen produced Orpheus and Eurydike .

In 1957 the Viennese singers presented Barden Othello or Because we don't know what we're doing .

The MKV association Falkenstein Mistelbach had a real phase of beer opera during the last 1980s. A creative team wrote and staged Knight Kunibert's last terrible curse in 1981 . In 1982 Lodengrün followed the woman murderer - a vampire opera , 1984 Il morte del Alchemistros and 1985 Amalie . Performances of these works took place until the 1990s.

The Vienna ÖCV connection Rugia made a contribution in 1988 with Caesar and Cleopatra ; In 2011 the Alpenland, also a Vienna association of the ÖCV, premiered Ritter Pavarotti and the Holy Grail .

In 1989 the MKV connection Küenburg Tamsweg celebrated its 10th foundation festival with the world premiere of a new, self-written beer opera Eduard and Kunigunde . In 2002 the MKV connection Ötscherland Scheibbs did this with a nameless but very successful plant for the 650th anniversary of the city. And also the Uttenruthia Erlangen , the oldest existing non-beating connection, created their first Uttenreuth beer opera on the occasion of the 175th foundation festival in 2011 .

The MKV association Tauriskia Villach has also developed a beer opera tradition over the years. On the occasion of its 60th foundation festival in 1987, Der Pfaffen Fluch was created , which was revised again twenty years later. In 1997, on the 70th foundation festival, King Lanzenreiter's Schwafelrunde was premiered, and Julien's Fall followed on the 75th in 2002 - or how Schleppepepe found his Josefine .

Opus Fidelia , which was created and printed around 1870, comes from the area of ​​the Cologne Carnival, the Carnival Society Fidelio .

The Hanover State Opera also adopted the term beer opera in autumn 2012: How good is the barley juice was conceived as a culinary evening program - not on the main stage, but in a kitchen center, but with professional performances from its ensemble and the opera choir; Music by Johann Sebastian Bach , Robert Schumann and Richard Strauss was used . With this gastronomic background, this work comes close to the archetype of the genre.

The SWPÖ , the Schneider White Party of Austria , an association of wheat beer lovers who, in addition to other activities, also brings out a beer opera of its own year after year and thus appears in several Austrian and Bavarian cities, is a curiosity of a special kind .

A catalog raisonné of beer operas is not yet available. But the Austrian Association for Student History once presented an extensive list in its magazine. Scenes, duets, trios and quartets are also taken into account, which shows that the generic term is very broad.

Sound carrier

In 1982, CBS Records released a record with the number 54474 with the two works "Rinaldini" and "Richard Löwenherz".

A DVD with the two beer operas "Ritter Blaubart", "Rinaldini" and the encore "Die Bürgschaft" is included in the literary work "Curtain up! - The First Viennese Beer Opera Ensemble to Guest at the Coburg Whitsun Congress".

literature

  • Jürgen Herrlein , Silvia Amella Mai: Hermann Wollheim (1817-1855) and his literary works. WJK-Verlag, Hilden 2012.
  • Raimund Lang: The Jena wine and beer caller. In: Student Courier. Journal of the community for German student history. (GDS); No. 1/2005.
  • Harald Lönnecker : The student opera between art, entertainment and politics. In: Historia Acadwwwemica. Series of publications by the Student History Association of the Coburg Convent. Volume 47, Essen 2009.
  • Franz Luger: The Beer Opera - The superlative of a beer sulfur. In: Acta Studentica. Journal of the Austrian Association for Student History. No. 48, Vienna 1983.
  • Franz Luger: Beer operas on record. A musical delicacy of its own. In: Deutsche Corpszeitung. No. 34/1983
  • Curt Meyer: Hermann Wollheim's beer game 'Tannhäuser or the fight at the Wartburg'. In: then and now. Publication series of the Association for Corps Student History Research, Volume 16, 1971.
  • Wolfgang Rohr: Richard Thiele (1847-1903). In: Acta Studentica. Journal of the Austrian Association for Student History. No. 144, Vienna 2003.
  • Wolfgang Rohr: A real Berlin child - for Richard Thiele's 160th birthday. In: Student Courier. Journal of the community for German student history. (GDS); No. 3/2007
  • Thuringian History Association Arnstadt e. V. (Hrsg.): The Arnstadt “Beer Opera” from 1705. Arnstadt 1993.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.bieroper.com/
  2. ↑ http://www.ols-scheibbs.com/fidishomepage/Vergangenes2002/Bieroper/bieroper1.htm
  3. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from December 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ http://www.staatstheater-hannover.de/oper/index.php?m=235&f=03_werkdetail&ID_Stueck=59&ID_Vorstellung=1923
  5. ^ Austrian Association for Student History : Beer operas and musical beer sulfur from the previous century. In: Acta Studentica. No. 86, Vienna 1991.
  6. ↑ Detlef Freshness: Curtain up! - The First Viennese Beer Opera Ensemble as a guest at the Coburg Whitsun Congress. In: Historia Academica. Series of publications by the Student History Association of the Coburg Convent. Volume 47, Essen 2009.