The little court concert
| Work data | |
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| Title: | The little court concert |
| Shape: | Singspiel |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Edmund Nick |
| Libretto : | Paul Verhoeven and Toni Impekoven |
| Premiere: | November 19, 1935 |
| Place of premiere: | Munich |
| Place and time of the action: | Small German state around 1840 |
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The Little Court Concert is a musical comedy in three acts by Edmund Nick . The textbook was written by Paul Verhoeven and Toni Impekoven . The piece was premiered on November 19, 1935 in Munich. The composer only provides a chamber orchestra for the performance.
Stage sets
The work takes place in the world of Carl Spitzweg , and the sets are accordingly:
First act: Photo 1: At the city gate , Photo 2: View over the roofs of a city , Photo 3: Main square of a small town
Second act: picture 4: antechamber in the prince's castle , picture 5: poor poet's poor room , picture 6: in the castle library , picture 7: on the street
Third act: picture 8: in the palace library , picture 9: Christine Holms room , picture 10: hall in the sovereign's palace
action
Christine Holm followed in her mother's footsteps and became a singer like her. One of her greatest wishes has not come true so far: she would like to know who her father is. Whenever she asked her mother about it, she immediately changed the subject. Now that her mother is dead, she takes matters into her own hands. She gets on a stagecoach and travels to her birthplace, the capital of a small fictional German principality, to do research. At the city gate, she and her fellow traveler Zunder are checked by Lieutenant Walter von Arnegg. Finding that Tinder is carrying contraband is very harsh; towards Christine, on the other hand, he is extremely amiable. It starts to spark between the two at the same time.
Once in the residential town, Tunder spreads bad rumors about Christine to the dignitaries. When the untruths come to Walter von Arnegg's ears, he suspects who is behind them. Without hesitation, he defends the lady and claims that she is his bride. But his father, who is the sovereign's court marshal, has no understanding of this. He personally visits the Serenissimus and has Christines expelled from him. Walter von Arnegg receives the order to carry out the deportation.
Christine has now visited the poet Knipp in his poor apartment. She hopes to learn more about her origins from him. The reason for this visit was a poem she found in her mother's estate and identified Knipp as the author. Christine and Walter von Arnegg meet again in Knipp's apartment. Both confess their love. Because the lieutenant couldn't reconcile Christine's deportation with his conscience, he decided to quit his service.
The annual court concert is to take place in the princely palace today. It was planned that this time a soprano would take over the vocal part. The singer is ill and has therefore canceled. In his desperation, the prince has no choice but to ask the singer he has designated to fill the gap. Christine ties her commitment to the condition that Serenissimus will support her with all its possibilities to find out who her father is. Because the prince definitely wants to avoid his court concert falling into the water, he agrees to help.
The Prince's officials go to great lengths to clarify paternity, but the hoped-for success does not materialize. Because they fear the anger of their employer, they try to bribe the poor poet with 500 guilders to pretend to be Christine's father. Christine apparently agrees to this, but in the audience of the Serenissimo she reveals the truth about the shoddy game of his officials. Quite coincidentally, Christine got the idea to play the old gentleman with the song "When dark veils of the evening ...", which her mother often sang when she was young and the text of which was also written by the poor poet. Serenissimus listens with emotion to the singing and remembers how he had a liaison with a singer from the court theater around 25 years ago. She was his great love, and only the difference in class prevented a marriage at the time. Suddenly the prince's eyes open: Christine's similarity to his childhood sweetheart cannot be overlooked. The girl is his daughter!
It comes to a good conclusion: Not only Christine, but also Knipp was raised to the nobility. Walter von Arnegg and the lady of his heart become engaged. The small court concert was a triumphant success. Serenissimus finally has a descendant.
Musical highlights
- It's wonderful to be in love (Walter von Arnegg and Christine Holm)
- Oh, if the king only knew (Christine Holm)
- A poor shepherd adored the high queen (Hofkapellmeister)
- The Brittle: On the purest spring morning (Christine Holm)
- Now the day folds its wings (Christine Holm)
- Do you never think about it (Christine Holm)
- When dark veils in the evening (Christine Holm)
Film adaptations
- The first film adaptation of the work was made for Ufa in 1936 under the title “ The Court Concert ”. Directed by Detlef Sierck, who later called himself Douglas Sirk , Marta Eggerth , Johannes Heesters , Hans Richter, Otto Treißler, Herbert Hübner and Rudolf Klein-Rogge played the leading roles. The lexicon of the international film judges: "The Dane Detlev Sierck ... staged the cheerful and amiable game with Spitzweg idylls and extensive singing parts: Martha Eggerth sings everywhere, even in the bathing water."
- In 1944 a film was made , directed by Paul Verhoeven, one of the two librettists of the stage work. Elfie Mayerhofer , Erich Ponto , Hans Nielsen , Hans Leibelt and Harald Paulsen played the leading roles . The film was only released in theaters on September 20, 1949. Regarding this second film version, the lexicon of international films says: “A graceful musical comedy with a painterly look, which is modeled on Spitzweg pictures. The cabal and the intellectual and moral narrowness of the Duodez courts are portrayed with mild irony. "
- Another film adaptation of the play was made in 1963 under the direction of John Olden , with Monika Dahlberg in the lead role.
- Another film adaptation of the play was made in 1976 for ZDF . Naëmi Priegel sang the main role in this TV production . The other roles included Amadeus August , Gustav Knuth , Helmuth Wallner and Peter Lühr. Wolfgang Liebeneiner directed the film .