The Prince of Homburg

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Work data
Title: The Prince of Homburg
Original language: German
Music: Hans Werner Henze
Libretto : Ingeborg Bachmann
Premiere: May 22, 1960
Place of premiere: Hamburg
Playing time: about 2 hours
Place and time of the action: Fehrbellin , 1675
people
Cast sheet dated June 15, 1960 with the participants in the world premiere

The Prince of Homburg is an opera in three acts by Hans Werner Henze . Ingeborg Bachmann's libretto is based on Kleist's play Prince Friedrich von Homburg or the Battle of Fehrbellin .

action

1st act

The opera takes place in 1675 with Fehrbellin and Berlin . The Prince of Homburg is in a dreamlike state on the eve of the Battle of Fehrbellin in the palace gardens. He winds a laurel wreath and already thinks he is a winner. The elector first observes him, then takes the wreath from his hand, wraps his necklace around it and hands it to his niece Natalie. She backs away when the prince approaches her and says: "Natalie, my girl, my bride". He reaches for her, but can only hold onto her glove. The prince is confused and tells Hohenzollern what he saw in a dream shortly before. Field Marshal Dörfling issues the orders for the upcoming battle against the Swedes . So the prince should only intervene in the battle when the elector gives the order through an officer . The prince is inattentive, thinking all the time about Natalie and the upcoming thanks.

The prince observes the course of the battle from a hill. When victory was already in sight, he gave the signal to attack, although no directive from the elector had arrived. The scene darkens; an orchestral interlude interprets the further course of the battle. After it got light again, Natalie and the Electress appear. They are informed about the victory achieved, but also about the death of the elector. Homburg assures the women of his support, whereupon Natalie hugs him trustingly. Suddenly they find out that the elector is still alive. He had recently traded horses with a subordinate. He pronounces the death penalty on anyone who intervened in the struggle . To everyone's dismay, the prince's sword is removed.

2nd act

Hohenzollern visits Homburg in prison and informs him that the court martial has sentenced him to death . But the prince does not want to give up and trusts in the grace of the elector. Hohenzollern points out that Natalie is to be married to the King of Sweden as a pledge of peace. Homburg suddenly realizes the seriousness of his situation. On Hohenzollern's advice, Homburg went to the Electress. On the way, he comes across a freshly dug grave that he thinks is meant for himself. He assures the Electress that he is only asking for his life and that he is even willing to renounce Natalie.

Natalie, for her part, has gone to the elector and asks for mercy for her lover. If Homburg makes a statement that he considers the judgment to be unjustified, the prince wants to pardon him. But the prince doesn't want to know anything about it. Natalie has ordered the Orange Regiment , which she heads, to Berlin . The officer corps approaches the elector and asks for mercy for the prince. But Homburg declares that he is ready to answer for his failures.

3rd act

After Homburg has been taken away, the elector asks the officers whether they can trust the prince again. They emphatically affirm this, whereupon the elector tears up the death sentence. After a lengthy orchestral interlude, the prince is seen awaiting death in the same place in the garden where he was in the first act. The elector and his entourage approaches him. Natalie presses the laurel wreath on his head. The promises of the dream face have become reality.

Remarks

The text was based on the play of the same name by Heinrich von Kleist, Prince of Homburg . Ingeborg Bachmann wrote the furnishings for the opera . The music is characterized by a high density, with Henze combining serial work, twelve-tone technique and tonality in a virtuoso way in order to bring lyrical and dramatic forces into an artistic balance. The opera was composed in honor of Igor Stravinsky , to whose work both spiritual and musical references are clearly recognizable.

literature

  • Annette Förger: Nightwalker - outsider - artist: Hans Werner Henze's Kleist opera “The Prince of Homburg” . Are Musik, Mainz 2004, ISBN 978-3-924522-13-1
  • Antje Tumat: poet and composer. Aesthetics and dramaturgy in Ingeborg Bachmann's and Hans Werner Henze's “Prince of Homburg” . Bärenreiter, Kassel 2004, ISBN 3-7618-1781-9