The beautiful Galathée
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| Title: | The beautiful Galathée |
| Shape: | operetta |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Franz von Suppè |
| Libretto : | Leonhard Kohl from Kohlenegg |
| Literary source: | Greek mythology |
| Premiere: | June 30, 1865 |
| Place of premiere: | Berlin |
| Playing time: | about an hour |
| Place and time of the action: | Cyprus in ancient times |
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The beautiful Galathée is a comical-mythological operetta in one act by Franz von Suppè .
The libretto wrote Leonhard carbon of Kohlenegg under the pseudonym Henrion Poly . It premiered on June 30, 1865 in Meysels Theater , Berlin. The Austrian premiere at the Carltheater in Vienna followed on September 9 of the same year . The performance lasts about an hour.
Emergence
After the great success of Jacques Offenbach's operetta Die Schöne Helena in 1864, the Viennese impresario Karl Treumann tried to transfer the recipe “mythological material in a comical update with a female star” to the Viennese operetta and commissioned Suppé. The text is an adaptation of Victor Massé's Opéra comique Galathée (1852).
According to the customs of the time, the servant Ganymede was designed as a trouser role and was portrayed by the famous comedian Anna Grobecker . The piquancy that she had to sing a kiss duet with Galathee contributed significantly to the success of the piece.
action
The operetta is set in the Pygmalion studio on the island of Cyprus in ancient times.
The young, gifted sculptor Pygmalion naturally depends on finding buyers for the works of art he has created, but one of them is not for sale: the statue of the nymph Galathée. He is not only in love with her, he is downright infatuated. That's why he hides them behind a curtain so that none of his customers can see them. He has ordered his servant Ganymede not to show them to anyone.
The art lover Mydas has heard what a magnificent work Pygmalion is said to have. Because he is out of the house, he gives Ganymede a generous tip so that he can show him the statue. This works. Mydas is thrilled. He wants to buy the statue immediately. Suddenly Pygmalion returns and notices how his servant has betrayed him. Furious, he chases the art collector out the door.
Pygmalion begs the goddess Venus to have mercy and breathe life into his statue. As soon as he has expressed his wish, it is already fulfilled. But alas: Galathée turns out to be a man-made vamp. First she beguiles Pygmalion, then his servant Ganymede and - when finally the penetrating art lover appears again - this one too. Pygmalion gets angry. He had believed that in a beautiful body there had to be a good soul. Now he has to ask Venus for help again. She should reverse the metamorphosis. Venus hears him again. When the beautiful Galathée has solidified to marble again, Pygmalion happily sells the babe to Mydas.
Orchestra line-up
Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, harp, percussion, strings
music
The overture , including the sweeping G major waltz, became particularly popular . It became known to a larger audience as the theme song for the television series Kir Royal .
The following musical highlights stand out: The “Venus chorus” that follows the overture and returns later, the slumber aria of Ganymede, the performance song of Mydas (“Yes, I love the artists”), Pygmalion's prayer (“Venus, to you I beg here ”), the trio of Mydas, Ganymed and Galathée (“ See the jewelry I brought for you ”), the drinking song of the Galathée (“ Bright in the glass, the fragrant water foams ”), the duet between Galathée and Ganymede (“Oh, I'm drawn to you”) and the finale (“Come here, come here with a happy song, the joyous walk takes us to Venus today”).
reception
Sound carrier (selection)
- Complete recording with Renate Holm , Reinhold Bartel , Ferry Gruber u. a. and the Kölner Rundfunkchor und Rundfunkorchester under the direction of Franz Marszalek (1965), CD on the Documents label
- Complete recording with Anna Moffo , René Kollo , Rose Wagemann and Ferry Gruber under the direction of Kurt Eichhorn (1974), CD on the eurodisc label
- Overture with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Paul Paray (1959), CD on the Mercury label , distributed by Philips / Universal
- Overture with the Orchester symphonique de Montréal under the direction of Charles Dutoit (1985), CD on the Decca label , distributed by Universal
Individual evidence
- ^ Revue (review of the premiere). In: Neue Berliner Musikzeitung , 19th year, No. 27 (July 5, 1865), p. 211 f. ( Full text in google book search)
- ^ Carltheater (cast list for the Vienna premiere). In: Neue Freie Presse , Morgenblatt, September 9, 1865, p. 3 (online at ANNO ).
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↑ A brief look at the first production in Vienna:
- EC: From Vienna (correspondence September 1865). In: Deutsches Museum (edited by Robert Prutz ), September 21, 1865 (No. 38), pp. 452–454, here from p. 453 ( full text in the Google book search)
- ↑: From the life of Vienna (Vienna, Sept. 25). In: Supplement to the Allgemeine Zeitung , October 1, 1865 (No. 274), p. 4451 f., In the last paragraph ( full text in the Google book search)