The King Kandaules

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Opera dates
Title: The King Kandaules
Jean-Léon Gérôme - Kandaules

Jean-Léon Gérôme - Kandaules

Shape: Opera in three acts
Original language: German
Music: Alexander Zemlinsky
Libretto : Alexander Zemlinsky
Literary source: Le Roi Candaule by
André Gide
Premiere: October 6, 1996
Place of premiere: Hamburg
Playing time: approx. 130 min
Place and time of the action: Lydia , in the old days
people
  • King Kandaules (dramatic tenor )
  • Nyssia, Queen (dramatic soprano )
  • Gyges , a fisherman (dramatic baritone )
  • Trydo, his wife (silent role)
  • Phedros, guest (lyric baritone)
  • Syphax, guest (lyric tenor)
  • Nicomedes, guest (baritone)
  • Pharnaces, guest ( bass )
  • Philebos, guest (bass)
  • Simias, guest (tenor)
  • Sebas, guest (tenor)
  • Archelaos, guest (bass)
  • The cook (bass)
  • Musicians, servants

The King Kandaules is an opera by Alexander Zemlinsky . The libretto comes from the composer himself and is an adaptation of André Gide's drama Le Roi Candaule . The composition was initially unfinished. It was only completed by Antony Beaumont in November 1993 and premiered in this version on October 6, 1996 in Hamburg. The story is an old story from ancient Asia Minor, already mentioned by Herodotus , and deals with the dethroning of the ancestral Lydian royal dynasty under King Sadyattes I (Kandaules) by Gyges , the founder of the Mermnaden .

action

first act

King Kandaules and the poor fisherman Gyges have known each other since childhood, but have since become estranged. Gyges only owns five things: his hut, his boat, his net, his wife and his poverty. He delivers a fish for a king's feast. Kandaules is very proud of the beauty of his wife Nyssia and takes the opportunity to present her to his courtiers for the first time, lifting her face veil. Nyssia is not very enthusiastic about being examined like an object against all custom. Archelaos, one of the guests, finds a ring inside the fish that bears the inscription: "I hide happiness". Gyges is called in to solve the riddle. While they wait, the guests watch his hut go up in flames. Gyges says she was accidentally set on fire by his drunken wife Trydo. Kandaules has them fetched too. When the guest hints at Seba's loyalty, Gyges murders her with a knife. Kandaules is impressed by Gyges and makes him his confidante.

Second act

The friendship between Gyges and Kandaules is revived. They drink wine together and discuss the reasons for Gyges' murder of his wife. Gyges explains that he loved her but didn't want to share her with anyone else. Kandaules wants to seal the friendship by sharing his most precious treasure with Gyges - the sight of his naked wife. He forces the initially struggling Gyges on the ring he found in the fish, which he has since discovered to be magical and has the ability to make its wearer invisible. Nyssia enters the bedroom. She is still angry about her public exposure. Kandaules helps her undress and secretly leaves the room. The invisible Gyges is now alone with her. He cannot resist her beauty and spends the night with her who thinks he is her husband.

Third act

The next day Philobus tells the other courtiers about the effect of the ring: The king is still looking for the invisible bearer. Meanwhile, Nyssia Kandaules raves about last night, which makes him madly jealous. The still invisible Gyges overhears the conversation. He is so tormented by remorse that he confesses the deception to Nyssia. The queen, deeply hurt in her honor, takes revenge on the betrayal of her husband by forcing Gyges to kill Kandaules and take his place. Still dying, Kandaules forgives his friend. Thus Gyges is now king at Nyssia's side, but hardly less defeated than his friend and adversary Kandaules. Nyssia declares that she will never wear a veil again.

history

The myth of King Kandaules was processed in 1844 by Théophile Gautier in the novella Le Roi Candaule and in 1854 by Friedrich Hebbel in the drama Gyges und seine Ring . In 1899 André Gide created his play Le roi Candaule, which was premiered in Paris in 1901 and translated into German by Franz Blei in 1905 . This version was first performed in January 1906 at the Deutsches Volkstheater in Vienna. She wasn't a great success and only saw three performances. A production staged in Berlin in 1908 was whistled at the premiere. At the beginning of the 20th century, Gide's work was viewed as a social drama and later banned by the National Socialists because of alleged communist tendencies . According to other interpretations, it is more of an artist drama. According to GW Ireland, it is "the story of an infinitely rich king who can only enjoy his fortune if he enables him to make others rich."

For a long time, Alexander Zemlinsky contemplated preparing an operatic version of the text. However, only after his return to Vienna in 1933 did he actually tackle this project. First he wrote the libretto and the short score . After composing the first act, he took a longer break. He completed the second act on August 29, 1936, and the third act on December 29. At this point, he discovered that the first act did not fit stylistically with the two that followed. Therefore, he revised it fundamentally in 1937. In the spring of 1938, three quarters of the new first act (885 bars) as a short score and 846 bars for the score had been completed. After the " Anschluss of Austria " by the National Socialists in March 1938, he stopped working.

When the composer had to flee from the Nazis to New York in December 1938 due to his Jewish origins , the work was therefore not yet finished. Since a short nude scene was planned in the second act and Artur Bodanzky - the then chief conductor of the Metropolitan Opera and a long-time acquaintance of Zemlinsky - gave him to understand that this was not possible in the USA, Zemlinsky gave up work on the opera.

Just a few years after Zemlinsky's death (1942), his widow Louise tried to finish the score. However, the composer in New York whom she initially addressed refused the commission. In 1981 she made another attempt at the composer Friedrich Cerha , who looked at the manuscript and abandoned the project due to the apparently considerable gaps. At that time, the particell was in a very disordered condition due to incorrect numbering by librarians, which could only be corrected later with the help of older microfilms. In February 1992, Antony Beaumont took on the task of completing it using the existing sources. With regard to the planned instrumentation, he was able to orientate himself on the notes contained therein. However, the parts of the first act that Zemlinsky had not yet reworked proved more difficult. Parts of the third act (the prelude and the monologue of Gyges) were performed on May 15, 1992 in a concert at the Wiener Festwochen. The work was completed on November 14, 1993.

The world premiere on October 6, 1996 in Hamburg was directed by Gerd Albrecht . It sang James O'Neal (Kandaules), Nina Warren (Nyssia), Monte Pederson (Gyges), Klaus Häger (Phedros), Peter Galliard (Syphax), Mariusz Kwiecień (Nicomedes), Kurt Gysen (Pharnaces), Simon Yang (Philebos ), Ferdinand Seiler (Sebas) and Guido Jentjens (Archelaos).

In the meantime this opera has been produced several times:

layout

Zemlinsky's Particell already contained details about the intended instrumentation. In addition to special instruments such as the alto saxophone or E-flat clarinet , playing techniques such as “ flutter tongue ” or “ sul ponticello ” were specified. A special feature is the process, noticeable throughout the score, of creating a "window" around the vocal line. H. leave a space of about a fifth to make the voice easier to hear. Further features are sound surfaces , organ points , bitonal sections and an extended harmonic that reaches the limits of tonality . Zemlinsky himself described his work in an interview for the New York Times as "ultra-modern". Despite the modern techniques mentioned, Zemlinsky avoided the twelve-tone music method . In the “invisibility clusters” he also dispensed with chords that contain all twelve semitones.

The prologue is followed without interruption by the first act. This is divided into four sections separated from one another by spoken passages. Due to the incomplete revision of the first act, Beaumont used the original version from 1935 from the appearance of Gyges and dispensed with the last ten bars of Zemlinsky's new version.

The individual parts of the second act are less clearly separated from each other. In contrast, clearly different forms can be distinguished here. The initial scene of Gyges and Kandaules consists of four parts: a designated well in the score as "ballads", a funeral march, a quasi Andante in 3 / 4 ¯ clock and a Rhapsody in 6 / 8 ¯ clock with an alto saxophone solo. This is followed by a Fughetta in which Kandaules talks about his experiences with the Ring in the form of a chant (omitted at the premiere), a series of free variations on the "Ring" motif and, after a longer transition to Nyssia's appearance, the Scène d ' amour. This consists of the superimposition of a symphonic adagio with an extended rondo form and is based on the second act of Alban Berg's Lulu .

Recordings

literature

  • Uwe Sommer: Alexander Zemlinsky: The King Kandaules. (Music Concepts; Issue 92/94). München 1996: Edition Text and Criticism, ISBN 3-88377-546-0
  • The King Kandaules. In: Antony Beaumont: Alexander Zemlinsky. Translated from the English by Dorothea Brinkmann. Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-552-05353-0 , pp. 600–619

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Alexander Beaumont: Alexander Zemlinsky. Translated from the English by Dorothea Brinkmann. Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-552-05353-0 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e The King Kandaules. In: Harenberg opera guide. 4th edition. Meyers Lexikonverlag, 2003, ISBN 3-411-76107-5 , p. 1081 f.
  3. ↑ October 6, 1996: "Kandaules". In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia ., Accessed on September 24, 2015.
  4. ↑ King Kandaules at the Vienna Volksoper , June 28, 1997, accessed on September 24, 2015.
  5. ↑ Miguel Ángel Aguilar Rancel: "The King Kandaules": la senda a recorrer. ( Memento from September 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) on diariodeavisos.com, February 6, 2005 (Spanish).
  6. ↑ Más teatro musical que ópera. In: La Nacion, September 4, 2005, accessed September 24, 2015 (Spanish).
  7. ↑ Stefan Schmöe: The King Kandaules. In: Online Musik Magazin, 2005, accessed on September 24, 2015.
  8. ^ Frits van der Waa: Three formidable zangers in zwanenzang by Zemlinsky. In: De Volkskrant, August 15, 2010, accessed September 24, 2015 (Dutch).
  9. ↑ Dieter Lintz: Kaiserslautern, Zemlinsky: King Kandaules. In: Opernwelt , March 2009, p. 44.
  10. ↑ Anke Groenewold: Acclaimed premiere of the Zemlinsky opera "The King Kandaules". In: Neue Westfälische, June 21, 2010, accessed on September 24, 2015.
  11. ^ Zemlinsky o dell'innocenza perduta. Review of May 27, 2012 on BelliniNews (Italian) ( Memento of February 18, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ).
  12. ↑ The Theater Augsburg celebrates the premiere of the opera "Der König Kandaules". In: Presse Augsburg, September 23, 2015, accessed on September 24, 2015.
  13. ↑ a b Alexander von Zemlinsky. In: Andreas Ommer: Directory of all opera complete recordings. Zeno.org , volume 20.