The evangelist

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Work data
Title: The evangelist
Shape: Musical drama in two acts
Original language: German
Music: Wilhelm Kienzl
Libretto : Wilhelm Kienzl
Premiere: May 4, 1895
Place of premiere: Berlin
Playing time: approx. 2 ¾ hours
Place and time of the action: Benedictine monastery of St. Othmar and Vienna, 1820 and 1850
people
  • Friedrich Engel, carer / legal advisor of the St. Othmar monastery ( bass )
  • Martha Engel, his niece and ward ( soprano )
  • Magdalena, her friend ( old )
  • Johannes Freudhofer, teacher of St. Othmar ( baritone )
  • Mathias Freudhofer, his younger brother, clerk of the monastery ( tenor )
  • Zitterbart, a tailor (tenor)
  • Schnappauf, Gunsmith (Bass)
  • Aibler, Elderly Citizen (Bass)
  • Mrs. Aibler, his wife ( mezzo-soprano )
  • Hans, a farm boy (tenor)
  • Night watchman (tenor)
  • Ragman (mezzo-soprano)
  • Leiermann
  • Monks, citizens, rural people, children

The Evangelimann is a "musical play", an opera , in two acts from 1895 by Wilhelm Kienzl , who wrote the music and libretto .

Background and story

The eponymous figure of the Evangelimann was originally a figure of the so-called Viennese Pawlatschenhöfe (backyards), who preferred to appear there on Saturdays or Sundays and public holidays, mostly quoted in a dignified and friendly manner from the Bible and received a few cruisers in return .

Wilhelm Kienzl named his opera after this figure. He was inspired by a story from Leopold Florian Meissner's book From the Papers of a Police Inspector , which tells of the life of an Evangelimann , here this case is presented as a "true" incident. Wilhelm Kienzl adapted this story for his opera.

At the end of the 20th century, Viktor Redtenbacher uncovered the actual background of this "true" incident and exposed Meissner's story as fiction, which, however, is based on a few proven facts. On the Hellerhof in the parish of Paudorf near Göttweig in Lower Austria, a fire actually broke out in 1812, which a brother of Engelbert Schwertfegers , who was born there and who later became the abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Göttweig Abbey , is likely to have started. Nobody was prosecuted or even tried for arson in court. This fire was not a catastrophic fire that affected an entire place, but only a haystack fire with a little damage to property.

The first performance of the work took place on May 4, 1895 in Berlin .

action

first act

When the secret couple Martha and Mathias happily left the church after the afternoon service in St. Othmar, they were watched enviously by Mathias' brother Johannes. He waits for Martha's guardian Friedrich Engel to appear and reveals the love they have had. Friedrich Engel then confronts Mathias, who as a poor writer is by no means befitting of his class. Despite his assurances, he drives Mathias out of his office and takes his living. Johannes tries to take the opportunity to approach Martha, but is turned away. The evening comes and the citizens are drawn to the monastery tavern.

Mathias asks Magdalena to order Martha to go to the inn an hour before midnight. Meanwhile, the citizens of the game bowling. Martha and Mathias now meet and vow eternal loyalty. But Johannes watched them again and fell affected. Soon smoke rises. The night watchman gives a fire alarm. Mathias wants to extinguish the fire when the orderly arrests him as a suspected arsonist. Martha collapses.

Second act

Thirty years later in a typical Viennese backyard with children playing, the sound of the organ barrel and a rag picker with her “rag” reputation. Magdalena wistfully remembers her beautiful youth. An evangelist appears and reads from the Bible. The children try to sing after him. When he asks Magdalena for water, she recognizes him as Mathias Freudhofer. He tells of his innocent suffering, the twenty years of imprisonment and Martha's despair, which made her seek death in the Danube. Magdalena urges him to return soon to comfort a sick person.

The sick person is Johannes. His body and mind are tormented by pain. But he wants to take his secret with him to the grave. Then he heard the evangelical man singing outside. He asks Magdalena to fetch him. When he appears, Johannes trusts the stranger and confesses his deed. The brothers recognize each other and the dying John asks forgiveness. After a difficult internal struggle, Mathias forgives him. Johannes dies. Outside the children are singing, "Blessed are those who suffer persecution for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven".

Staging and reception

After its premiere in 1895, the opera was popular in German-speaking countries and abroad for a long time, but has hardly been played in recent decades. One of the few performances took place in Vienna in 1945 with Rosette Anday , Alfred Jerger , Gertrud Burgsthaler-Schuster and Sena Jurinac . Only the tenor aria "Blessed are those who suffer persecution", sung by Peter Anders , Nicolai Gedda , Joseph Schmidt , Richard Tauber , Fritz Wunderlich and Rudolf Schock , was still played on the radio occasionally. In the 1980s the opera was performed in Wiesbaden; Performances followed in 2004 in Chemnitz, 2006 in Vienna at the Volksoper , 2007 at the Graz Opera and 2012 at the Klagenfurt City Theater . A complete Munich recording under Lothar Zagrosek from 1980 with Helen Donath, Ortrun Wenkel, Kurt Moll, Roland Hermann and Siegfried Jerusalem a. a. broadcasted Radio Klassik Stephansdom in November 2019.

Discography

  • GA 1980 (CD: EMI Classics, 7243 5 66370 2 3); Lothar Zagrosek, Tölzer Knabenchor, Bavarian Radio Choir, Munich Radio Orchestra; Kurt Moll (Friedrich Engel), Helen Donath (Martha), Ortrun Wenkel (Magdalena), Roland Hermann (Johannes), Siegfried Jerusalem (Mathias); u. a.

literature

  • Viktor Redtenbacher: (Not) an evangelist. The historical arson . Vienna: Association d. Knowledge Ges. Austria 1990.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Uwe Schneider: Positive criticism of the re-performance of the opera in Chemnitz 2004 Forgiveness thriller: Critique of Wilhelm Kienzl: Der Evangelimann (Städtische Theater Chemnitz) . In: Klassik.com magazine from October 30, 2004.
  2. ↑ Der Evangelimann, program of the Vienna Volksoper, June 9, 2011 , accessed on April 6, 2018.
  3. ↑ Der Evangelimann, program, Oper Graz ( Memento from December 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Brotherly quarrel as a church soap opera. Kitsch-free staging of "Evangelimann" In: Der Standard from February 10, 2012 and "Der Evangelimann", broken. In: Die Presse on February 10, 2012, accessed on April 6, 2018.
  5. ↑ Shipment details | radio classic. Accessed November 20, 2019 (German).