The Kathrin
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| Title: | The Kathrin |
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| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Erich Wolfgang Korngold |
| Libretto : | Ernst Décsey |
| Premiere: | October 7, 1939 |
| Place of premiere: | Stockholm Royal Opera |
| Place and time of the action: | In the south of France, 1930 |
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The Kathrin op. 28 is an opera in three acts by Erich Wolfgang Korngold based on a libretto by Ernst Décsey .
history
Korngold completed his fifth and last opera in the summer of 1937. The world premiere was scheduled for March 1938 in Vienna, but after the annexation to the Nazi- ruled German Reich it was canceled on March 13, 1938 on the instructions of the new rulers due to Korngold's Jewish descent. The work was not premiered until October 7, 1939 with Isa Quensel in the title role under the direction of Fritz Busch at the Royal Stockholm Opera.
content
1st act
The action begins on a Sunday afternoon in the summer of 1930 in a small garrison town in southern France when young men and girls are going to the cinema, among them a servant, Kathrin and her friend Margot. A number of soldiers are also on the way, including François, who is doing his military service and sings about his love for singing and girls. Kathrin and François meet and fall in love spontaneously.
Late in the evening, after Kathrin confessed everything to Margot, her boyfriend told Margot that she would lose her job if her employer found out something about her new romance. Margot urges Kathrin to write François a letter and tell him that she never wants to see him again. She does this in one of the most touching arias by Korngold and then retires to sleep.
She is awakened from sleep by knocking, François climbs through her window and confesses his true job - he is a singer. After an ecstatic love duet, the two spend the night together.
François is sent to Algiers with his regiment a few weeks later and Kathrin, who is now pregnant, was dismissed by her employer. As François and his comrades march off with a triumphant march-song, Kathrin kneels in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary to pray for the future of her lover and her child.
2nd act
1st scene
In the meantime it has become winter and it is snowing. In a country inn on the Swiss-French border, the innkeeper argues with a vagabond who tries to sell him a silk dress. Desperate Kathrin, who is on her way to see Francois, comes along on the road and meets Malignac, an unscrupulous and lascivious nightclub owner from Marseille, who gives her a forgotten passport and promises to find François when she comes with him . But Malignac actually has other plans.
2nd scene
By a strange coincidence, François is employed as a singer at the “Chez Chou-Chou” club in Malignac, where Chou-Chou, the leading chanteuse, tries to teach him how to sing in a more lively way for customers. She tries to seduce him with a cabaret song, accompanied by a jazz band on stage.
Malignac arrives and waits alone in his private salon for Kathrin, to whom he explains his unbridled passion and love. But he is interrupted by his lover Monique and a violent argument ensues, in the course of which Monique confronts him with an ultimatum: Either she becomes his wife or .... Assaults follow and Malignac throws Monique to the ground. As he leaves, she yells after him that he will pay with his life for these insults and humiliations.
When he returns to the salon, he invites Kathrin over and tries to kiss her. When he is holding Kathrin in his arms, François penetrates him and threatens to shoot him. When Malignac tries to put Kathrin between himself and François for protection, he is shot by Monique, who is hiding behind a curtain.
Kathrin assumes that François committed the murder to save her, while François believes that it was Kathrin's act. He confesses the deed and goes to prison for Kathrin while she, left alone, sings about her despair and the hope for her child.
3rd act
It has been five years since the events in Marseille. Kathrin has given birth to a son, who is also called Francois, and now manages a small inn in the Swiss mountains. The church bells ring and dinner is served. Kathrin still hopes to see François again, but is harassed by a young tailor who is vying for her favor.
After dinner, Kathrin fetches Lisl the cow from the meadow while her little boy is waiting for her outside. A stranger comes along, it's François, who sings a beautiful and nostalgic wandering song. The tailor also comes back and wished he could sing too, to impress Kathrin. While the serenade ends, Kathrin returns. François sees her and reveals himself, but he believes that he is too late and that she is the tailor's bride. He turns away to leave, but Kathrin hurries to explain that she is not engaged to the tailor and that their son is their child. Now all misunderstandings have been eliminated and both assure each other of their undying love in a blissful duet.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Kathrin on www.korngold-society.org , accessed on July 11, 2017