The victorious Cupid

The victorious Cupid is “a great comic pantomime in two lifts with machines, airframes and dances”, which has been performed in the theater in the Leopoldstadt Vienna since 1814 . The play was played 57 times until 1821, making it one of the most successful pantomimes on this stage. It can stand for many similar pieces in the first half of the 19th century. The score received particular praise in its time. It is one of the few of this genre that has been completely preserved and is in the music collection of the Vienna Library .

The private theater in Leopoldstadt was not allowed to give ballets in order not to compete directly with the court stages. Mime, on the other hand, was allowed. It was a kind of ballet for the "common people". In contrast to the court dancers, the performers in the pantomime were called "grotesque dancers".

Karl Hampel , the theater's pantomime master, conceived the plot and the theater conductor Franz Volkert composed the music. It is very precisely tailored to the plot and contains many ballroom dances such as the Viennese waltz . As usual, the characters in this pantomime are borrowed from the Commedia dell'arte . As usual in impromptu comedy, the plot is made up of familiar elements that can be combined again and again. In addition to artistic interludes between acrobatics and magic tricks, the costumes and transformations on the open stage were sensational. The mythological figures show that many baroque elements have been preserved in this form of theater. Cupid serves as a deus ex machina to demonstrate all the tricks of the stage machinery .

action

Harlequin asks Pierrot for something to eat. This rejects him, but Colombina brings him something. The two fall in love, but are surprised and separated by Pierrot. Harlequin happens to save the god Amor by cutting down a tree in which he was enchanted, and in return receives a talisman with which he can transform himself. In this way he can prevent the involuntary marriage of Colombina and the son of a baron, which her guardian Pantalone ordered. He escapes with Colombina. Dancing coopers put Pantalone and his notary in barrels. A hunter's house in front of which Pierrot discovers the sleeping harlequin and steals bread and wine from him is transformed into a Turkish mosque. The evil wizard, who has set his furies and satyrs on Harlequin, appears and promises Pantalone to bring Colombina back, but Cupid saves the lovers.

Pantalone locks Colombina in the house and orders her to love the bridegroom. Harlequin frees them. The groom finds a fake Colombina and falls in love with her, but she is kidnapped by a fake harlequin. Harlequin appears in various disguises, for example as a hermit . Pierrot's attempt to slay Harlequin, supported by an evil fairy, fails because of Cupid's intervention. The groom also wants to stay with the fake Colombina when the real one appears. Harlequin and Colombina can stay together. Pantalone, Pierrot, the magician and the fairy are left behind. Everyone is reconciled.

literature

• Carl Dahlhaus, Sieghart Döhring: Piper's Encyclopedia of Music Theater. Vol. 6, Piper, Munich 1997, pp. 536-538. ISBN 3492024211