The bandits
| Work data | |
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| Title: | The bandits |
| Original title: | Les Brigands |
1869 poster |
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| Original language: | French |
| Music: | Jacques Offenbach |
| Libretto : | Henri Meilhac, Ludovic Halévy |
| Premiere: | December 10, 1869 |
| Place of premiere: | Théâtre des Variétés , Paris |
| Playing time: | approx. 2½ hours |
| people | |
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Die Banditen (original title: "Les Brigands") is an Opéra-bouffe by Jacques Offenbach , which was premiered in Paris in 1869. The title should actually be translated as “The Robbers”; but probably a confusion with Schiller's play of the same name should be avoided.
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In the Duchy of Mantua , the robber chief Falsacappa and his people (originally called "bandites") are up to mischief. The mood in the gang is bad: the ducal carabinieri do not pose any real danger, as you can hear their heavy boots from afar while patrolling the woods, but the loot has been small lately. Even when Fragoletto's farm was looted a few days ago, little cash was stolen. The farmer could not even be kidnapped to collect ransom, since Falsacappa's daughter Fiorella let him escape, which has recently happened to her frequently with handsome young men. This unprofessional weakness worries her father very much. Fragoletto appears and asks for Fiorella's hand. Since the two fell in love during the attack, Falsacappa allows the marriage on the condition that Fragoletto gives up his previous life and immediately proves his suitability as a bandit. So that Fiorella does not manipulate the sample, she has to stay behind in the warehouse. When a young traveler appears who is lost, she has one of her unprofessional weaknesses again and shows him the way to town. Fragoletto, on the other hand, passed his test with flying colors: He managed to capture a cabinet courier. His mailbag contains an interesting document: Since the Duke of Mantua owes the Prince of Granada five million francs and the dowry of the Princess of Granada is two million, the Duke asked the Prince for his daughter's hand in order to pay off his debts to reduce. The letter announces the arrival of the princess, accompanied by the Chancellor of the Exchequer of Granada - a wedding will only take place if the remaining three million are paid to him immediately. Falsacappa decides to intercept the Spanish travel company with his gang and collect the money himself.
Pilgrims appear in front of the inn on the border between Italy and Spain (!) And ask for gifts. When they are allowed into the house, they turn out to be the bandits who lock the host couple and employees in the basement and take on their roles. Shortly afterwards, a delegation from the Carabinieri arrives to receive the future princess. The bandits serve them plenty of wine. When the Spanish delegation appears, the bandits pretend to be the reception committee and try to persuade the Spaniards to have a siesta. They want to move to Mantua in their discarded clothes. At that moment the landlord manages to sound the alarm, but since the Carabinieri are now completely drunk, they cannot prevent Falsacappa and his people from robbing the Spaniards of their clothes. The bandits lock everyone in the basement of the inn and move to Mantua in disguise.
The Duke of Mantua awaits the princess in his palace. He reassures his ladies-in-waiting that marriage will certainly not prevent him from continuing to have fun with them. His Chancellor of the Exchequer Antonio, on the other hand, looks forward to the arrival of the Spaniards with apprehension: In order to finance his luxurious lifestyle, he has embezzled money from the state treasury and can therefore not pay out the three million. When the bandits arrive at the palace, Fiorella recognizes the duke as the young wanderer whom she saved in the first act. Since he also recognizes her, Falsacappa decides to take care of business as quickly as possible and withdraws with Antonio. He tries to bribe the supposed colleague with the last thousand francs from the state treasury. Falsacappa is completely shocked and insults Antonio (among other things as "brigand"; this is the only time that this expression is used in the original libretto). Outraged, the gang demands that the duke punish the villain, but then the real Spaniards and the Carabinieri appear who were able to break free. The Duke orders the bandits to be executed, but when Fiorella reminds him that she saved his life, he pardons them all. Antonio is also satisfied, because he immediately had success with his attempt to bribe his Spanish colleague (by now it should be clear who the main characters of this opera are). The bandits decide to give up their unprofitable life and, with the help of Falsacappa's future son-in-law, to lead a civil life from now on: “One should steal according to one's social position.” (Il faut voler selon la position qu'on occupe dans la societé.)
Position in Offenbach's oeuvre
Offenbach called the work “Opéra-bouffe”. Since 1850, this has been understood to mean operettas at a high level, which corresponded to classical operas in terms of musical style and number of characters and which often parodied them. This also applies to this work. It starts with the cast: The young lover, who is traditionally sung by the tenor, is a trouser role here ; the tenor, on the other hand, takes on the role of the father, which is usually played by baritone or bass. The score contains numerous examples of Offenbach's musical wit: the march of the Carabinieri, which is insistent on the second beat; Fiorella's and Fragoletto's onomatopoeic description of their planned wedding or the couplet of the Mantovan Chancellor of the Exchequer, who philosophizes in falsetto about his weak character. Like most of Offenbach's works from these years, this opera also contains numerous satirical allusions to the political situation. So tells z. B. the captain of the Carabinieri that he owes his post only to his beautiful appearance. The leaders of the two delegations from Granada and Mantua must first be told where the borders (of their countries) are, otherwise politicians would not know. Since the wife of Napoleon III. came from Spain, there was hardly any work by Offenbach missing an allusion to it. Here the Spanish Chancellor of the Exchequer admonishes the Princess of Granada not to forget her origins in Mantua and to fortify all posts at court to her former compatriots. The third act begins with a lengthy dialogue between the Duke, his Chancellor of the Exchequer and the ladies-in-waiting, in which the greed and corruptibility of all involved becomes clear. There are also some allusions to the contemporary scandal surrounding the banker Jules Mirès: one of Falsacappa's people was a former banker and has changed jobs because he wanted to improve his earnings. However, he realizes that this did not work. With these musical and lyrical advantages, “Les brigands” is one of Offenbach's best works.
Reception history
“Les Brigands” is Offenbach's last full-length Opéra-bouffe. Although it was initially received with applause, it disappeared from the program with the beginning of the Franco-Prussian War . In times of national emergency one did not want operas that deal with weak and corrupt public servants - especially not with a composer from Germany. After France's defeat, Offenbach was unable to build on his previous artistic success. This had a particular effect on this work, which never reached the level of awareness of its predecessors. However, the phrase “arriver comme les carabiniers d'Offenbach” still exists in France today. In Germany, the work was only played more often in the translation by Karl Kraus from around 1920 .
Discography
The lack of awareness of the work also affects the number of recordings - there are only three complete recordings of "Les Brigands" on CD:
- In the original language under the direction of John Eliot Gardiner. The only recording that does not contain any significant changes to the score.
- In English under the direction of J. Lynn Thompson. Fragoletto is sung by a tenor; if there are more than one piece, the repetitions are not performed.
- In German under the direction of Pinchas Steinberg. Several vocal pieces, all interludes and dialogues are missing. Fragoletto is a tenor here too.
