The moon (opera)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Work data
Title: The moon
Original title: The moon
Original language: German
Music: Carl Orff
Libretto : Carl Orff
Literary source: The moon , fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm
Premiere: February 5, 1939
Place of premiere: National Theater Munich
Playing time: approx. 1 ½ hours
Place and time of the action: fairy tale
people
  • The narrator (high lyric tenor)
  • Four guys who steal the moon (tenor, 2 baritones, bass)
  • An old man named Peter who keeps heaven in order (Bass-Buffo)
  • A peasant (baritone)
  • Two mayors (speaking roles)
  • A host (speaking role)
  • A small child (speaking role)
  • Large mixed choir and children's choir

Der Mond is an opera in one act by Carl Orff , based on the fairy tale Der Mond by the Brothers Grimm . Orff wrote both the libretto and the music.

The work is often performed together with Orff's other one-act play Die Kluge (1943) based on Grimm's fairy tales .

action

Four lads from a country without a moon, where it is dark at night, set off on a journey and arrive at a country where a luminous ball hangs on an oak tree and emits light at night. When asked what it was, a farmer replied that their mayor (now the mayor) had bought this so-called moon and that he is now pouring oil on it every day for a fee to keep it glowing. The boys decide to steal the moon and take it back to their country. There they also hang it on an oak tree and demand a corresponding fee from the municipality. As the boys grow old and realize that they are about to die, they one by one decide that each of them wants to take a quarter of the moon to their grave with them. In this way the moon reaches the underworld and wakes the dead with its unusual light. These become active again and begin to have fun loudly. When Saint Peter saw this noise, he called the heavenly hosts together, believing that the dead would attack. Since there was no attack, Peter went personally to the underworld, calmed the dead and took the moon with him to heaven, where he hung it. The opera ends with a solo for zither and the subsequent speaking voice of a small child who discovers the moon in the sky again: "Ah, there is the moon!"

orchestra

3 large (also small ) flutes , 3 oboes (also English horn ), 3 clarinets (also bass clarinet ), 2 bassoons (also contrabassoon ), 4 horns , 3 trumpets , 3 trombones , 1 tuba , timpani , percussion for 5 players ( large and Snare drum , stirrer drum, tambourine , triangle , xylophone , cymbal , various cymbals , tam-tam , ratchet , rod , sleigh bells , castanets , clock bell, tubular bells , glass set , glockenspiel , metallophone ), harmonium , accordion , harp , celesta , piano , zither , strings .

Incidental music : organ , mixed choir , percussion (bell, 3 stirring drums, bass drum, cymbals and tam-tams), thunder and wind machine , guard horn ( tuba ), lightning and impact.

Stylistic position

Carl Orff did not call his work “opera”, but “a small world theater”.

Orff adopted the text of the fairy tale without change as the basis for his libretto. It is read by the narrator. The text is supplemented by the dramatic interjections of the characters.

history

The composition was created in 1937/38. The world premiere on February 5, 1939 in the Bavarian State Opera in Munich was directed by Clemens Krauss .

Recordings / sound carriers

literature

  • Kurt Pahlen , Rosemarie König: Carl Orff. The moon. The clever. Opera guide. Goldmann, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-442-33040-8 .
  • Andreas Liess: Carl Orff. Idea and work. Revised edition. Goldmann, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-442-33038-6 .
  • Werner Thomas: Das Rad der Fortuna ─ Selected essays on the work and impact of Carl Orff. Schott, Mainz 1990, ISBN 3-7957-0209-7 .
  • Werner Thomas: Orff's fairy tale pieces. The moon ─ the clever one. Schott, Mainz 1994, ISBN 3-7957-0266-6 .

Web links