The village without a bell
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The village without a bell |
| Shape: | Singspiel |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Eduard Künneke |
| Libretto : | August Neidhart |
| Literary source: | Hungarian legend by Árpád Pásztor |
| Premiere: | April 5, 1919 |
| Place of premiere: | Berlin |
| Place and time of the action: | Village in Transylvania before 1800 |
| people | |
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The village without a bell is an operetta-like singspiel in three acts by Eduard Künneke without choir and ballet. The libretto was written by August Neidhart . He used a Hungarian legend by Árpád Pásztor as a template. It premiered on April 5, 1919 at the Friedrich-Wilhelmstädtisches Theater in Berlin.
orchestra
Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, percussion and strings
action
The work takes place in the 18th century in a village in Transylvania with a predominantly German population. Only picture: village square with rectory, inn, church and linden tree
Since the last Turkish war , the villagers have no longer been allowed to be called to mass by a bell. Pastor Benedikt, who is extremely popular with his community, particularly regrets this and has often pointed out the grievance. Now that he is celebrating his 50th anniversary as a priest, his little sheep want to give him a special treat. With great privation, they collected 500 guilders in the past year. You give him the amount so that he can use it to buy a bell that he can choose himself.
Journeyman blacksmith Peter is engaged to Eva. Unfortunately, he has no luck finding a job. How is he supposed to feed a family when there is barely enough money to support himself? So he decides to break the engagement and emigrate. Pastor Benedikt heard this misery. Because he feels great pity for the boy, he gives him the 500 guilders so that he can build an independent existence from it.
When, after a while, the bell still does not ring from the church tower, the villagers begin to become suspicious. Something seems to be wrong here. Wild rumors are spreading. The village blacksmith is also told something like this, but it only contains half the truth. Because he is particularly fond of Pastor Benedict, he wants to help him out of his plight. The blacksmith has earned enough in the course of his life to be able to retire soon. Now retirement should come earlier than planned. He therefore decides to sell his workshop. A prospective buyer is also found: It is the blacksmith journeyman Peter. When he offers the seller 500 guilders, the blacksmith believes that Peter stole the priest. This news quickly gets around, and the angry people want to lynch the supposed robber. Pastor Benedict can prevent the worst from happening at the last minute. Now he has no choice but to come out with the full truth. The anger of the citizens immediately spreads from Peter to the pastor. They accuse him of fraud and drive him out of office.
Pastor Benedikt is emotionally troubled. He wants to rest briefly under the linden tree near the rectory and falls asleep. He dreams of how a golden bell - accompanied by the chanting of angels - is hung up in the church tower and rung. When he wakes up and wants to leave the village, the patron saint, Baron von Lertingen, knows how to prevent this. When he heard the story about the 500 guilders, he bought a bell himself and had it installed on the church tower. The villagers make up with their pastor. The singspiel ends with a festival at which the bell is consecrated to the glory of God.
Sound carrier
Historical complete recording from 1936 on two CDs with Karl Hellmer, Liesl Tiersch, Ludwig Andersen, Anneliese Würtz, Richard Sengeleitner, Hildegard Erdmann and an orchestra under the direction of Franz Marszalek