The sky dress
| Opera dates | |
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| Title: | The sky dress |
Poster for the premiere in 1927 |
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| Shape: | Legend in three acts |
| Original language: | German Italian |
| Music: | Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari |
| Libretto : | Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari |
| Literary source: | Charles Perrault : Donkey skin |
| Premiere: | April 21, 1927 |
| Place of premiere: | National Theater Munich |
| Playing time: | approx. 2 ¾ hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Fantasy place and time |
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The sky dress (title of the Italian version: La veste di cielo ) is an opera (original name: “Legende”) in three acts by the German-Italian composer Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari , who also wrote the libretto . The content is based on the French fairy tale Donkey Skin by Charles Perrault . The opera was completed in 1925, but was not premiered until April 21, 1927 in the National Theater in Munich .
action
The opera is about a young princess who is corrupted by wealth, greed and lust for power. She ultimately loses both her possessions and the possible love of a prince. Your empire is decaying. Only after a long journey through the world does she realize her mistake and find love.
prehistory
The king of a small country rules with kindness over his people. As a reward for his good government, a beggar gives him a golden donkey, which is supposed to ensure prosperity for the empire for ever. After the king's death, power passes to his daughter. In order to test the princess, who grew up in wealth, the beggar tells her that she can only find true happiness if she possesses the clothes of the air, the moon and the sun. She then decides to marry only the man who gives her these things. In the course of time, many applicants arrive who give her magnificent clothes, but are all turned away.
first act
In the princess's throne room
On the left the throne, on the right the main entrance. At the back, a few steps lead up to a second, semi-elliptical hall, which has three smaller doors to the right and left, and in the middle, a kind of chapel, to which a few steps lead. It is initially closed by a red curtain, on which hieratic gold embroidery depicts a beggar with a radiant head who gives a kneeling old king a donkey. A marble basin on either side of the chapel. The old Chancellor, in a simple black robe, with a chain with a golden key around his neck, is alone in the front room and looks at gloves, of which he has a gray silk sack full. From the left behind a silver peal sounds like many bells, at the same time with a bright laughter from women's voices.
The princes Korbinian, Gudolin, Fridolin and Pippin were, like all previous applicants, rejected and ridiculed by the princess. They leave the palace swearing vengeance. The Chancellor points out to the Princess that she has already spurned 32 applicants who are now threatening war. He informs her that the emperor's young son from the large neighboring country is also on his way to her. Since the people are now rebelling, they should not reject this too. The princess agrees to receive him, but wants to put on her most splendid robes beforehand to make herself beautiful for him. That is how long the prince has to wait in the garden. Pages and page-girls appear to dress the princess. This remembers the words of the beggar. In her mind she imagines that she only owns “little things”. She calls in the prince. The page girls escort them to the throne, and the prince enters with the chancellor and his own entourage. Contrary to expectations, however, he does not hand over a robe to the princess, but a miracle flower that only blooms every hundred years. The princess thanks him and sends everyone else out. Alone with the prince, she confesses her affection for him. But when he explains that he didn't take her condition seriously, she gets angry. In order to appease her, the prince promises to procure the clothes she has asked for if it costs him his life. He adds that there is another flower that only blooms every hundred years: the woman's soul. Thereupon the princess angrily throws his flower at his feet. The prince says goodbye and leaves. The princess remains desperate. She blames the golden donkey for her misfortune and destroys its statue. The beggar rises from the pedestal like a ghostly apparition. He throws the donkey skin to the princess and sinks into the ground. That destroys the magic. The people invade and drive the princess out of her kingdom. Wrapped in donkey skin, she flees "over the ruins of the chapel into the country and loses herself in the darkness".
Second act
By the winds
In front the jagged back of a rock. Close behind, filling the entire stage design, a vertical rock wall with a narrow gap in the middle, the depth of which is lost in the unfathomable. Darkness. The prince, in a long blue robe, a harp in hand, comes from the left over the ridge of the rock and stops in the middle, in front of the gap.
The prince, listening, looks into the abyss and throws a stone into it. The winds indignantly try to drive him away. But the prince persists. He demands that the winds carry him to the three upper realms of air, the moon and the sun. When he declares that he is guided by love, the winds tell him that if he wants to get to them, he has to give a piece of his heart to the vulture at the gate. The prince fearlessly steps into the crevice and disappears into it. Fog and clouds condense into a gloomy storm. When it clears up again, you can see the prince floating above the clouds as if carried by the winds.
In the realm of air
Below a layer of white clouds, behind it a clear blue sky. Waking morning light.
Several groups of air spirits sing vocalises to each other. There are "slightly lively beings in waving bright veils and with loose hair" who jump in "funny catch game". When the prince suddenly appears among them, the ghosts are frightened and want to flee. However, the prince can calm her down with his harp song and asks her about the wonderful dress she is looking for. Amazed at his ignorance, the ghosts decide to make fun of him. They jokingly argue over the ring he gives them in return and seemingly let it fall into the clouds. They do the same with his chain. Desperate, the prince reaches for the harp again to seek his salvation in song. One of the air spirits snatches it from him and explains to him that he just needs to look around, because in reality he is looking for the air himself. He can get it here for free and in all colors. The prince angrily moves away to find at least the other two clothes.
At the Mondhof
Below, in a semicircle, hazy clouds. In the middle of the background a wide, diamond-shaped, matt-illuminated staircase, the end of which cannot be seen. Starry sky to the right and left of the stairs. Matt moonlight. On the stairs and scattered everywhere else, lie the moon girls, with half-closed eyes, indolent and indolent, wrapped in pearly veils. Others perform a slow, dreamy dance.
Moon girls sing about the dreams of people sleeping on earth. At the same time, they long for the love of mortals. When the prince arrives in their realm, they are amazed that he does not dream and cast a long shadow. You report his arrival to the moon fairy immediately. This, "in a diamond-studded veil, a diadem in the shape of a crescent moon in her hair," appears as if walking in a dream, leaning on two moon girls at the top of the stairs. After making sure that the prince is really real, she lets him step forward. He greets you with kind compliments. The moon fairy, who has felt lonely for a long time, wants to win him over and promises him the fulfillment of his love wishes. When she found out, however, that he was only looking for the dress spun out of moonbeams and that he wanted to give it to a mortal he loved, she had him arrested by her playmates: "If you don't show me love, you're crazy!" “, To bewitch him, heavenly chants resound. The stairs shine. Fairy-tale decorated moon girls descend. Others plow flowers out of the clouds. The prince initially fights back violently, but soon gives up. The stage is enclosed by shiny silver cobwebs. But just as the moon fairy thinks he is safe, the prince breaks away from her and flees. His true love is stronger than magic. However, he couldn't win the second dress either.
Close to the sun
In front clouds, rimmed with gold, behind them, ascending from right to left, a golden staircase. Deep blue sky. From the top left, from a source of light that cannot be seen, dazzling golden rays flood down. The prince lies exhausted, as if blinded by the light, in the lower right front.
Sun children clad in golden robes descend the stairs and greet the prince, to whom they promise the sun crown. He is already hoping to be able to be successful at least here. But when the sun children realize that the prince is a living person, they explain to him that the dress they would like to give him would immediately melt away on earth. He sinks to the ground as if destroyed. The sun children surround him comfortingly and promise him that his beloved will soon have all three clothes "as best it is possible there in one". She will get it through the hardship she is currently in. So the prince learns of the exile of the princess, who flees from place to place wrapped in donkey skin. The prince immediately rushes off to protect her. When the sun children call after him that he cannot do this, a voice from the light source contradicts them: "Nothing will happen to him." The sun children kneel down in awe.
Third act
In the forest
A clearing in the forest, divided by a group of trees so that the right side is the larger. The forest in the background rises up and leaves only a little bit of sky, on the right, free. Night.
The prince is looking for his lover. He just thought he had found her, but she thought he was one of her pursuers and fled. He throws himself sadly on the grass and falls asleep. The princess appears on the right in her donkey skin. She is desperate and is only looking for a quiet spot where she can end her life without the presence of other people. She dreams of her wedding as a princess with the forest as a magnificent hall - but the bridegroom is death. She throws the donkey skin off, so she is now naked. The prince, who has meanwhile awakened, listens for a while and finally sees the princess. But when he tries to hurry towards her, the beggar, who was lying unnoticed in the undergrowth, holds him back with the words that otherwise the princess would run away again. The beggar pulls out a shawm, the sound of which puts the princess to sleep. The prince bends over her to tell her about his futile search for the wonderful clothes. In twilight sleep the princess replies that one receives these clothes at birth, but usually only recognizes them in death. Now she knows: “I have her on. Air, moon and sun… My heavenly dress. ”She confesses to the prince that she loved him from the beginning. The two kiss. The morning is breaking. Horns sound from the royal castle, which is visible to the right above the forest. The now awakening princess is briefly shocked when she notices the prince. He calms her down, wraps her in his cloak and leads her back to his home as queen. The beggar gets up, takes the donkey skin and looks after them with a smile. Then he turns to the audience: “The story is over now. That's exactly how I wanted it. "
layout
In the "legend" Das Himmelskleid , which refers to the traditional German fairy tale opera , Wolf-Ferrari dealt with the "crazy times" of the mid-20s. Although it is a serious opera, it also contains some humorous passages such as the complaints of the royal advisors about the behavior of the princess in the first act.
Ulrich Schreiber found the instrumental pieces of the opera, composed in the neo-romantic style, particularly appealing: the elevator of the page girls in the first act and the E major prelude, the transformation music and the dance of the sun children in the second.
orchestra
The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:
- Woodwinds : two flutes (also piccolo ), two oboes , english horn , two clarinets , bass clarinet , two bassoons , contrabassoon
- Brass : four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba
- Timpani , drums
- harp
- Celesta , piano , organ
- Strings
- Incidental music: six horns, six trumpets, three trombones, percussion (including thunder sheet and wind machine )
Work history
The sky dress based on Charles Perrault's fairy tale Eselshaut is one of the few serious operas by the composer Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari , who is mainly known for his comic operas. He wrote the German as well as the Italian text version himself. He completed the composition in 1925. However, since there were strong concerns about the suitability for the stage, no theater was initially found that wanted to perform the opera. Wolf-Ferrari himself later remarked that the plot was "purely internal" and therefore "difficult to depict externally". So he quickly turned to his next opera, Sly ovvero La leggenda del dormiente risvegliato .
As early as 1925 he asked the publisher Josef Weinberger to prepare the public for the work at an early stage, as it was different from his earlier ones. On January 14, 1927, after the contract for the premiere had been signed, he wrote to Clemens von Franckenstein , the artistic director of the Bavarian State Theater , that it was very important to him that Hans Knappertsbusch should conduct the work, that the director and set designer should get to know the textbook and piano reduction early on the casting of the two main roles will be decided quickly. The prince should "have a beautiful, youthful, rather bright but noble voice, and look slim and elegant." The princess, "also bright and youthful, must have more nerves than him, and have a figure that you can possibly take with you without clothes." pure joy. ”Her nudity (including a symbol of her poverty) only needs to be hinted at, however, since the scene should not“ look sultry or piquant, but rather pure and humanly touching ”.
It was finally premiered on April 21, 1927 in the National Theater in Munich under the direction of Hans Knappertsbusch. The staging came from Max Hofmüller . Leo Pasetti designed the decorations and costumes. Among others, Elisabeth Feuge (Princess), Fritz Krauss (Prince), Carl Seydel (Chancellor), Robert Hager (Korbinian), August Kleffner (Gudolin), Oswald Brückner (Fridolin), Erich Zimmermann (Pippin), Luise Wille ( Mondfee) sang ) and Hans Hermann Nissen (beggar) as well as the sopranos Anni Frind and Fritzi Jokl . The criticism was divided about the work. There was talk of "too much philosophical-aesthetic load of ideas", the opera was too long and there was no dramatic arc of tension. The music, on the other hand, was unanimously praised, especially the composer's inventiveness, his instrumental art and the “sensitivity of his sound and color sensation”. The audience reacted extremely cautiously, so that Wolf-Ferrari said resignedly: "I am apparently condemned to write comic operas again and again because I was nailed to it."
Despite the failure, Wolf-Ferrari preferred the sky dress to his other operas. On January 20, 1928, he wrote to Clemens von Franckenstein: “The music from the sky dress is my favorite - including the text. But the others - understand Sly better in every way. Theater !!! ”On February 21, 1939, he wrote to Rudolf Krasselt that he would also welcome a purely concert performance of the opera, which was his“ greatest and deepest work ”to date and deserved to be heard again. In this form, it might even "have the greatest impact". Even with a radio broadcast, “the imagination would act as a co-creator”. But the impression should not be created that he himself “does not want to have a theater performance”. This is possible if you “dare the staging as it is intended” and if you properly explain the play to the audience.
It was not until May 6, 1995, that the work was played again in the Hagen Theater under the musical direction of Gerhard Markson and was positively received by the public and critics. The director was Anette Leistenschneider. The set was designed by Gerd Friedrich, the costumes by Susanne Ehrhardt-Ceesay and the choreography by Johann Jordaan. A CD was then released on the basis of this production.
Recordings
- 22-26 January 1996 - Gerhard Markson (conductor), orchestra and choir of the Hagen Opera House .
Angelina Ruzzafante (Princess), Sibrand Basa (Prince), Reinhard Leisenheimer (Chancellor), Stefan Adam (Korbinian), Sergio Gomez (Gudolin and beggar), Peer-Martin Sturm (Fridolin), Michael Kurz (Pippin), Anna Maria Dur ( Moon fairy).
Studio recording from the Hagen town hall.
Marco Polo 8.223261-63 (3 CDs).
Web links
- Piano reduction with handwritten notes by the composer, 1925. Digitized by the Munich Digitization Center
- La veste di cielo (Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna
- Work data for Das Himmelskleid based on MGG with discography at Operone
Individual evidence
- ^ Eckhardt van den Hoogen: ABC of the opera. The great musical dramas and their composers. Eichborn, Frankfurt am Main 2003, ISBN 3-8218-5568-1 , pp. 404-405.
- ↑ a b c Ulrich Schreiber : Opera guide for advanced learners. The 20th Century I. From Verdi and Wagner to Fascism. Bärenreiter, Kassel 2000, ISBN 3-7618-1436-4 , p. 661.
- ↑ a b c work information in the music publisher Josef Weinberger , accessed on March 13, 2018.
- ↑ a b Thomas Weitzel: Sly ovvero La leggenda del dormiente risvegliato. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 6: Works. Spontini - Zumsteeg. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1997, ISBN 3-492-02421-1 , p. 761.
- ↑ a b c The sky dress. Program booklet of the Hagen Theater , 1995.
- ^ Poster of the premiere.
- ↑ April 21, 1927: "The Heavenly Dress". In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia ..
- ↑ a b c Astrid Rech: Work information on CD 8.223261-63 from the music label Naxos , accessed on March 13, 2018.
- ↑ Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari. In: Andreas Ommer: Directory of all complete opera recordings (= Zeno.org . Volume 20). Directmedia, Berlin 2005, p. 24132.