The ghost bride

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Svatební Košile (German: Die Geisterbraut , literally: The wedding shirt ) is a cantata for soloists, choir and orchestra op. 69 by Antonín Dvořák based on a literary model by Karel Jaromír Erben (1884).

Origin and performance history

In 1883 Dvořák was invited to write a large orchestral oratorio for England, which was to be performed at the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival . Dvořák had agreed with his librettist Marie Červinková-Riegrová to write an oratorio on a topic from Czech history, e.g. B. on the story of St. Wenceslas or Jan Hus . Ultimately, he decided on a literary work, the ballad The Ghost Bride by Karel Jaromír Erben. He worked on his composition from April to November 1884. The cantata was published by Alfred Novello the following year.

Before the performance in England, the cantata was first presented twice on March 28 and 29, 1885 under the direction of the composer in Pilsen . The success of the performances at the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival on August 27 this year - with the involvement of a 400-member choir, a 150-member orchestra and Dvořák on the conductor's podium - exceeded all the composer's expectations. The work was heard in Milwaukee on December 2, 1885, in Edinburgh on February 1, 1886, in London on February 2, 1886, in Glasgow on February 11 and 13, 1886, and in London on February 13, 1886. Brooklyn followed in March 1886, Dewsbury on March 23, 1886, Leeds on March 24, 1886, Hradec Králové on April 17, 1886, Chicago on May 6, 1886, Philadelphia on May 10, 1886, Boston on May 13, 1886, etc.

structure

  • Introduction
  • No. 1. Choir: "Uz jedacta odbila" - "The clock is rushing to midnight"
  • No. 2. Soprano solo: “Zel bohu, zel, kde muj taticek?” - “Woe to me, alas! where did my father go? "
  • No. 3. Tenor and bass solo and choir: "Pohnul se obraz na stene" - "The picture moves on the wall"
  • No. 4. Duet. Soprano and tenor solo: "Hoj, ma panenko, tu jsem jiz!" - "Hey, my dear, here is your boy!"
  • No. 5. Bass solo and choir: "Byla noc, byla hluboka" - "Weiten und Breiten deep night"
  • No. 6. Bass solo and choir: "A on tu napred skok a skok" - "And he goes ahead with jump and movement"
  • No. 7. Duet. Soprano and tenor solo: "Pekna noc, jasna" - "Clear is the moonlit night"
  • No. 8. Bass solo and choir: "Knizky ji vzal a zahodil" - "Throws the book into the field in flight"
  • No. 9. Bass solo and choir: "A on vzdy napred - skok a skok" - "And he goes ahead with jump and movement"
  • No. 10. Duet. Soprano and tenor solo: "Pekna noc, jasna v tento cas" - "Clear is the moonlit night"
  • No. 11. Bass solo and choir: "A byla cesta nizinou" - "So they went through dark ground"
  • No. 12. Duet. Soprano and tenor solo: "Pekna noc, jasna v tu dobu" - "Clear is the moonlit night"
  • No. 13. Bass solo and choir: "Tu na planine siroke" - "Is there a house on the big plan?"
  • No. 14. Duet. Soprano and tenor solo: "Hoj, ma panenko, tu jsme jiz" - "Are already, my treasures, are at home!"
  • No. 15. Bass solo and choir: "Skokem preskocil ohradu" - "He jumped with a fathom high sentence"
  • No. 16. Bass solo and choir: “A tu na dvere: book, book, book!” - “And thump, thump, thump, it echoes wildly and quickly”
  • No. 17. Soprano solo: "Maria Panno, pri mne stuj" - "Holy woman, hear me"
  • No. 18. Bass solo and choir: "A slys, tu prave nablizce" - "And listen, a rooster in the nearby village"

literature

  • Daniela Philippi : Antonín Dvořák - Die Geisterbraut / Svatební košile op. 69 and Saint Ludmilla / Svatá Lumila op. 71. Studies on the »great vowel form« in the 19th century (= Mainz studies on musicology , 30). Hans Schneider , Tutzing 1993, ISBN 3-7952-0692-8 .

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