The Queen of Sheba
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| Title: | The Queen of Sheba |
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Theater ticket for the premiere |
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| Shape: | Opera in four acts |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Karl Goldmark |
| Libretto : | Salomon Hermann von Mosenthal |
| Premiere: | March 10, 1875 |
| Place of premiere: | Vienna Court Opera |
| Playing time: | about 3 hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Jerusalem , about 950 BC And on the edge of the Syrian desert |
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The Queen of Sheba is an opera in four acts by Karl Goldmark . The libretto comes from Salomon Hermann von Mosenthal and is based on the 1st Book of Kings (Chapter 10). The opera premiered on March 10, 1875 in the Vienna Court Opera. It was one of the most successful operas of the late 19th century.
action
first act
Hall in King Solomon's Palace
Sulamith, the daughter of the high priest, is supposed to marry Assad, a “darling” of King Solomon, who accompanies the Queen of Sheba on his behalf. When Sulamith greets her bridegroom, he shrinks back in horror. When asked by his father, he admits that he overheard one of his bride's companions bathing. He confessed his love to this woman, and she reciprocated.
The Queen of Sheba arrives at the palace, and when she takes off her veil in greeting, Assad recognizes her as his unknown lover. When he announces this, the Queen publicly declares that he does not know Assad, whereupon the latter leaves the ballroom confused and sad. Solomon comforts him with the reference to his bride Sulamith.
Second act
Fantastic garden with cedars, palm trees and rose bushes, the rising moon
The Queen of Sheba secretly visits Assad, who is sadly sitting in the garden of the palace. She assures him of her love again, but flees when the palace guard approaches. They do not notice the queen and only see Assad sitting quietly and sadly in the garden.
temple
During a sacred rite, Sulamith offers two white doves to the gods for their impending marriage. When Assad is led into the temple by his father, he in turn recognizes the Queen of Sheba who is present and throws himself at her feet. Since the latter denies him again, Assad falls into a frenzy and desecrates the temple in which he pays homage to the queen as goddess. He is arrested by the temple guard and dragged before the judge.
Third act
Festival hall
A festival is held in honor of the queen. She advocates Assad's pardon at Salomon. But only when Sulamith begs for his life, Solomon renounces a death sentence and banishes him to the edge of the desert, where Sulamith is allowed to follow him.
Fourth act
Edge of the desert
The Queen of Sheba is resting in an oasis on her way home. Her bodyguard finds Assad, who is wandering around in the desert, and brings him to her. But now he recognizes the true face of his beloved and curses her. The Queen of Sheba leaves him in the oasis.
Assad mourns lonely when a huge storm breaks out. In the midst of his desperation, Sulamith suddenly appears, who had been looking for her lover everywhere. She forgives him, and with a grateful smile he dies in her arms.
Instrumentation
The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:
- Woodwinds : three flutes (3rd also piccolo ), two oboes , english horn , two clarinets , bass clarinet , two bassoons
- Brass : four horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba
- three timpani , percussion : bass drum , cymbal , two small drums , hanging cymbal, triangle , bells, anvil
- two harps
- Strings (divided up to 14 times)
- Incidental music: two alto trombones, two tenor trombones, two bass trombones, tuba, drums (tambourine, triangle, tam-tam), six harps ad libitum
Work history
The first performance at the Vienna Court Opera was luxuriously cast with Amalie Materna in the title role , Marie Wilt as Sulamith and Gustav Walter as Assad. Goldmark's first opera soon received worldwide attention and became one of the most successful operas of the late 19th century. The success of the work is due both to the oriental subject (cf. also Salome by Richard Strauss ), which was popular at the time, and to the music, which is based on essential trends of the 19th century ( Giacomo Meyerbeer , Richard Wagner and others). The singer in the title role, Amalie Materna, who was already extremely popular in Vienna at the time, also played a major role in the success. The work was performed with great popularity until the late 1920s. With the National Socialist racial policy, however, the Jewish composer's opera disappeared almost entirely from the opera houses' repertoire. Only in Budapest did the opera retain a certain popularity after the Second World War.
"'The Queen of Sheba' is an opera that is effective on stage and filled with noble melodies with wonderful cantilenas, huge choral scenes and vivid representation of the characters."
“His [Goldmarks] reminiscent of Meyerbeer scrupulosity, the downside of an inferiority complex, allows the work to shine more in individual beauties than in the overall scenic-musical context. It seems like a somewhat strange mixture of Tannhäuser and Die Afrikanerin . "
literature
- "The Queen of Sheba". In: Neue Freie Presse , Morgenblatt, March 13, 1875, p. 1 (online at ANNO ).
- Horst Seeger : Opera Lexicon . Heinrichshofens Verlag, Wilhelmshaven 1979, ISBN 3-7959-0271-1 , pp. 296-297.
- Iris Weingartner: Carl Goldmark and his opera "The Queen of Sheba" . Diploma thesis at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, 2002 (unprinted).
- Peter Stachel: A “fatherland” opera for the Habsburg monarchy or a “Jewish national opera”? Carl Goldmarks “Queen of Sheba” in Vienna. In: Oliver Müller, Philipp Ther, Jutta Toelle, Gesa zur Nieden (eds.): Opera in the changing world. Cultural transfers and networks of music theater in Europe. Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2010, pp. 197–218. ISBN 978-3-205-78491-3 .
Recordings / sound carriers
- Hungaroton Classic LTD., 1997 HCD 12179-81
- BJR; Gala GL 100.620
Web links
- The Queen of Sheba : Sheet Music and Audio Files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Story of The Queen of Sheba on Opera-Guide landing page due to URL change currently unavailable
- Libretto as full text for Operone
- Work information with detailed description of the action from Zazzerino
Individual evidence
- ^ Sieghart Döhring : The Queen of Saba. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 2: Works. Donizetti - Henze. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1987, ISBN 3-492-02412-2 , pp. 482-485.
- ^ Dieter Zöchling: The opera Westermann's colored guide through opera, operetta, musical. Westermann, Braunschweig 1983, ISBN 3-14-508830-0
- ↑ Ulrich Schreiber: The art of opera. History of Musical Theater, Volume III. Book guild Gutenberg, Frankfurt am Main 2000, ISBN 3-7632-5016-6