The ruins of Athens

The ruins of Athens is the name of a festival (op. 113) by Ludwig van Beethoven based on the literary model by August von Kotzebue .

The Acropolis from the Agora seen from

Reception history

In 1808 construction of a theater began in the Hungarian city of Pest (now part of Budapest ). The builder was Franz Joseph Karl , the Archduke of Austria , who wanted to honor Hungary's loyalty to the Austrian monarchy in this way. The theater was to be inaugurated with a festival - framed by a musical prelude and aftermath. August von Kotzebue received the order for this. Beethoven was supposed to provide the music for the prelude and epilogue. In 1811, he had composed the music within a few weeks. Originally October 4th, the emperor's name day, was planned as the day of the inauguration, but this date could not be kept. The premiere took place on February 9, 1812. The prelude composed by Beethoven was named King Stephen , and the epilogue has the same title as the actual festival play The Ruins of Athens .

The work has not been performed on a stage for a number of years, but occasionally musical numbers in the concert hall, especially the overture and the Turkish march, are detached from the vocal parts.

Musical numbers

Overture ( Andante con moto - Allegro, ma non troppo )
Choir: Daughter of the Mighty Zeus ( Andante poco sostenuto )
Duet (a Greek and a Greek girl): tolerate bondage through no fault of your own ( Andante con moto - Poco più mosso )
Choir of dervishes: you have folds in your sleeve ( Allegro, ma non troppo )
Marcia alla turca ( Vivace )
Intermediate music ( Allegro assai, ma non troppo )

March with choir: decorate the altars ( Assai moderato )

Recitative (high priest): With great joy that never grows cold ( Poco adagio )

Choir: We carry receptive hearts in our bosom ( Allegretto, ma non troppo )

Aria (high priest) and chorus: Will our genius grant another wish ( Adagio )

Chorus: Hail our King! Salvation! ( Allegro con fuoco )

action

The work is set at the time when the theater was being built in Pest. Greece is part of the Ottoman Empire. The goddess Athena, daughter of the mighty Zeus, awakens after thousands of years. When she notices how the once magnificent buildings in the city named after her are now ruins, she is deeply saddened. She hears a Greek talking to a Greek girl. Both complain about the Turkish rule (“tolerate bondage through no fault of your own”). Athena calls on her compatriots to rise up against the oppressors.

On the help of the emperor of the Austro-Hungarian -Monarchie hoping to Athena goes - accompanied by the messenger god Hermes - to Pest, where both the opening of the new theater to attend. You experience a triumphant success of the muses Thalia and Melpomene. Between the two busts, Zeus places another of the Emperor Franz, and Athena puts the crown on him. With the choir “Heil our König! Salvation! Thanks again, we swear old Hungarian loyalty ”, the festival ends.

Sound carrier and source

Deutsche Grammophon Resonance No. 2535 151 (1970), performers: Arleen Auger, Klaus Hirte, Franz Crass, RIAS Chamber Choir and Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of Bernhard Klee

Machining

The ruins of Athens is also a festival with dances and choirs, which was composed in 1924 by Richard Strauss based on the literary model by Hugo von Hofmannsthal with partial use of Beethoven's predecessor work.

In 1926 another new version of The Ruins of Athens was published , in which Beethoven's music was retained, but Kotzebue's text was edited by Johannes Urzidil ; this version was premiered in the same year in the New German Theater in Prague with its musical director Alexander von Zemlinsky as conductor.

Web links

The Ruins of Athens : Sheet Music and Audio Files in the International Music Score Library Project

Individual evidence

^ Digitized score from 1823, Lübeck City Library
^ Ludwig van Beethoven: The ruins of Athens. op. 113. Based on the original text by August von Kotzebue, renewed by Johannes Urzidil. Piano reduction with text. Universal Edition , Vienna a. Leipzig 1926. (= UE. 8720.)
↑ Klaus Johann: The lost / captive Johannes Urzidil? Perspective remarks on the history of publication and reception. In: Steffen Höhne, Klaus Johann and Mirek Němec (eds.): Johannes Urzidil (1896-1970). A “behind the world” writer between Bohemia and New York. Böhlau, Cologne, Weimar a. Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-412-20917-9 . (= Intellectual Prague in the 19th and 20th centuries. 4.) pp. 13–52. P. 21.

[1] Digitized score from 1823, Lübeck City Library

[2] Ludwig van Beethoven: The ruins of Athens. op. 113. Based on the original text by August von Kotzebue, renewed by Johannes Urzidil. Piano reduction with text. Universal Edition , Vienna a. Leipzig 1926. (= UE. 8720.)

[3] Klaus Johann: The lost / captive Johannes Urzidil? Perspective remarks on the history of publication and reception. In: Steffen Höhne, Klaus Johann and Mirek Němec (eds.): Johannes Urzidil (1896-1970). A “behind the world” writer between Bohemia and New York. Böhlau, Cologne, Weimar a. Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-412-20917-9 . (= Intellectual Prague in the 19th and 20th centuries. 4.) pp. 13–52. P. 21.