Olivera's bull

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Work data
Title: Olivera's bull
Original title: Olivera's bull
Original language: German
Music: Eugen d'Albert
Libretto : Richard Batka
Premiere: March 10, 1918
Place of premiere: Leipzig
Playing time: approx. 2 hours and 45 minutes
Place and time of the action: Olivera, Castle of the Barrios, on the border of the Spanish provinces of Old Castile and Álava , during the Franco-Spanish War in the winter of 1808/09
people
  • Francois Guillaume, French Brigadier General ( bass )
  • Saint-Vallier, captain ( tenor )
  • Marchand, Rittmeister, Adjutant ( bass )
  • Herbaut, Lieutenant ( baritone )
  • Leroux, Ensign ( tenor )
  • De la Brière, sub-lieutenant ( bass )
  • Dupont, auxiliary surgeon ( baritone )
  • A soldier ( tenor )
  • Emperor Napoleon the First (speaking role)
  • Marqués de Barrios, Spanish grandee ( baritone )
  • Juana, his daughter ( soprano )
  • Manuel, his son ( soprano )
  • Don Perez y Lara (Marqués de Palos) ( tenor )
  • Father Benito ( baritone )
  • The Alkalde of Olivera ( bass )
  • Lopez, servant of the barrios ( bass )
  • Aminta, maid of Donna Juana ( mezzo-soprano )
  • Servants of the Barrios
  • Entourage of the Emperor

The Bull of Olivera is an opera in three acts by Eugen d'Albert . Richard Batka wrote the libretto based on a drama by Heinrich Lilienfein . The opera premiered on March 10, 1918 at the Leipzig City Theater.

action

first act

The French officer Saint-Vallier and some of his soldiers are quartered at Olivera Castle. The lord of the castle, Marqués de Barrios, grandee of Castile, is determined to kill the hated occupiers and tries to make them safe through courtesy. He invites you to a festive dinner at which the French occupiers are to be assassinated. Before he can carry out his plan, however, he must appease the people. The French committed the sacrilege of killing the bull intended for the corrida.

At the last moment the conspiracy is discovered by the relentless General Guillaume. Barrios and his family are to be fusiled at the general's behest. When Juana, the marqué's daughter, who is equally beautiful and proud, pleads for mercy for her young brother Manuel, Guillaume agrees, on condition that she becomes his wife. Torn to and fro, Juana asks for the general's arm.

Second act

After the wedding, Juana quickly realizes her power over the misshapen French and, driven by hatred and vindictiveness, begins a cynical and life-threatening game by making the general, inflamed in love but suffering from his ugliness, a cuckold. She lets her cousin and secretly fiancé Don Perez y Lara come after secretly writing him letters after their marriage. These were intercepted and passed on to the general so that he could understand Juana's true feelings.

A game of cards should decide between him and Perez. Perez is defeated in the game and should lose an eye, cut out by Dupont. At the last moment, Juana throws herself protectively in front of Perez. When Guillaume triumphantly stands before Juana, he again succumbs to her beauty.

Third act

The French Emperor Napoleon believes the general to be a traitor because of his marriage to a Spanish woman and her connection to Don Perez. Guillaume wants to go to meet the emperor and justify himself. Before that, there is a heated discussion between Juana and the general and their incompatible feelings are revealed. Guillaume is in despair over his irrepressible love for Juana. Only when she tries to persuade him to betray Napoleon does he recognize his delusion and stab her.

Napoleon arrives to judge Guillaume, but forgives him in view of Juana's body. When the emperor's retreat is in danger, Guillaume sacrifices himself for him. He leaves Napoleon his own carriage and drives in the emperor's carriage into the arms of the rebels lurking in ambush.

literature

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