The armorer
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The armorer |
| Original title: | The armorer |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Albert Lortzing |
| Libretto : | Albert Lortzing |
| Premiere: | May 31, 1846 |
| Place of premiere: | Vienna |
| Playing time: | approx. 2 ½ hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Worms around 1550 |
| people | |
The Armourer is a comic opera in three acts by Albert Lortzing . Here, too - as with (almost) all of his works - he was his own librettist. The comedy "Lovers and rivals in one person" by Friedrich Wilhelm Ziegler served as a template . Already during his acting days Lortzing had played the role of Count von Liebenau several times in this play, so that the subject matter was very familiar to him. Whereas the characters in Ziegler's comedy were still extremely rough, in Lortzing's libretto they appear much more natural and believable.
The premiere took place on May 31, 1846 at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna , the first "Marie" was Marie Eder , the first "Stadinger" Joseph Staudigl .
action
Place and time of the action: Worms in the 16th century.
first act
Konrad, the Count of Liebenau, and his squire Georg work in disguise in the workshop of the armorer Stadinger. As a disguised journeyman Konrad, but also as a legitimately dressed count, he woos Marie, the armorer's daughter. The recruiting of the rightful count is a thorn in the side of the armorer. So he gives Georg, the disguised squire of the count, the order to chase the count away if he should try to pursue his daughter in the absence of the armorer.
Count Konrad von Liebenau, who is actually supposed to marry the rich Fraulein von Katzenstein, finally wants to know who Marie really loves: Konrad, the count, or Konrad, the journeyman. When he appears in the count's garb that evening, Marie explains to him that her heart has already been taken and gives the count the passport. Inwardly exulting and keeping the outward appearance, he has to disappear as quickly as possible, as the armourer returns. After the "jealous" father has confused everyone and everything has finally calmed down again, Marie appears at the door of the journeyman Konrad to wish him good night. This stimulates and does not respond, however. Then she sees the count in the garden. Now she has her first doubts as to whether it might not be better to choose the Count ... (wealth alone doesn't do it on earth ...)
Second act
Konrad, the journeyman, plays the jealous because he had seen her with the count. But Marie straightened his head. Then he kisses her ... Irmentraut joins them, but is silent when she too receives a kiss. Georg sees this, and there is screaming and commotion. Attracted by this, Stadinger and at the same time the knight Adelhof appear. He warns everyone about Count Liebenau. In all this confusion, the armorer shows Konrad out of the house and decides that Marie has to marry the journeyman Georg (but it doesn't have to be unpleasant for him ...) .
Transformation: Stadinger celebrates its 25th anniversary as a master craftsman in the vineyards in front of the city. Then Konrad appears with the trembling Marie. They report that Count von Liebenau wanted to kidnap Marie and that he just snatched her from the Count. The half-drunk master curses. First he wants to put Marie in the monastery (but she doesn't have to be uncomfortable ...) , but then changes his mind. Marie is supposed to marry Georg, whether they want it or not.
Third act
Stadinger has slept off his intoxication and now wants to be told what was going on last day. As much as one persuades Stadinger, he does not give his Marie to the journeyman Konrad. Konrad leaves the house. Soon afterwards you can hear a noise and raging. It is said that Count von Liebenau wants to kidnap Marie by force. Then comes a letter from the magistrate: for the sake of the city's peace, Stadinger is to give Konrad his daughter to wife. Because of the higher order, the old armourer has no choice: (I too was a young man with curly hair ...) he sings, lost in memory. When he then realizes that the journeyman Konrad and Count von Liebenau are one and the same person, he gives both of them his blessing (they don't have to be uncomfortable though ...) .
music
The armorer's music is even more popular and therefore lighter in weight than in Lortzing's earlier works. In contrast to Undine , Lortzing completely dispenses with the leitmotif technique in the armourer.
The following musical highlights are highlighted:
- Georg's aria in the first act: You are only born once
- Marie's aria in the first act: It may not be so bad, of course
- Duet between Marie and the Count in the second act: you know that he loves you?
- Choir in the second act: How wonderful it is in the country
- Song of Georg with choir in the second act: Was once a young Springinsfeld
- Marie's aria in the third act: We poor, poor girls
- Stadinger's song in the third act: I too was a young man with curly hair
Others
The beginning and the end of the first stanza of Stadinger's song in the third act, “I too was a young man with curly hair” and “That was a delicious time” have entered the German quotation vocabulary. Both Büchmann and Duden (Volume 12: Quotes and Sayings) refer to Lortzing as authors. The song doesn't even come from his pen; rather, it was written by his friend Philipp Jakob Düringer, who had already contributed the song “Otherwise I play with scepter” to Lortzing's opera “ Zar und Zimmermann ”.
literature
- Culture library; Volume II; Opera and operetta guides; ISBN 3-88199-297-9 ; 1986
- The armorer. In: Georg Richard Kruse : Albert Lortzing (= Famous Musicians. Life and Character Pictures with an Introduction to the Works of the Masters. Volume VII). Harmonie, Berlin 1899 ( online in the Internet Archive ).
Web links
- The Armourer : Sheet Music and Audio Files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Plot and libretto of Der Waffenschmied at Opera-Guide landing page due to URL change currently not available
Individual evidence
- ↑ KJ Kutsch , Leo Riemens : Large singer lexicon . Unchanged edition. KG Saur, Bern, 1993, first volume A – L, Sp. 823, ISBN 3-907820-70-3