Doctor Eisenbart
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Doctor Eisenbart |
| Shape: | operetta |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Nico Dostal |
| Libretto : | Hermann Hermecke |
| Premiere: | March 29, 1952 |
| Place of premiere: | Nuremberg |
| Place and time of the action: | Germany 1697 to 1699 |
| people | |
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Doctor Eisenbart is “a mighty spectaculum in seven pictures” with music by Nico Dostal based on a libretto by Hermann Hermecke . The work is close to the operetta . It premiered on March 29, 1952 in Nuremberg . It refers to the German craft surgeon , surgeon and star engraver Johann Andreas Eisenbarth (1663–1727) and also processes the melody of the Eisenbart song .
orchestra
Two flutes, an oboe , three clarinets , a bassoon , two trumpets, a trombone, large percussion , a guitar, a double bass , an accordion and a piano. There are also three trumpets and a stirring drum as stage music.
action
place and time
The work is set in Germany from 1697 to 1699. The settings are the fictional village of Ysenheim and the real cities of Dinkelsbühl , Nördlingen , Magdeburg and Naumburg . A pair of bailiff singers act as the announcer for the following seven pictures.
First picture: Dorfbaderstube in Ysenheim
Johann Andreas Hirndobel, the village bathers humiliated by the prince, decided to go through the country as a healing artist "Doctor Eisenbart" in order to gain the reputation of a miracle doctor. His wife and the two assistants accompany him. Sabina is part of the party, who owes her existence to an affair with the sovereign. She is now called Amaranthe.
Second picture: Dinkelsbühl fair
Eisenbart celebrates great success on the market square in Dinkelsbühl. The competition tries in vain to bring him down. The city council awards him a diploma. Success goes to Eisenbart's head. He separates from his wife and flirts with Amaranthe, the lover of his assistant Jean Potage.
Third picture: City Palace in Nördlingen
A councilor summons Eisenbart. He was unable to conceive and needed the help of the miracle doctor. Eisenbart would like to help the woman to have offspring in a natural way. But then an officer appears and announces that the doctor is needed at the Ysenheim court.
Fourth picture: Ysenheim Castle
A bone got stuck in the throat of the sovereign. Doctor Eisenbart predicts death within two hours if he does not allow him to operate. If the operation failed, he would be appointed court medicus and receive a thousand ducats; if it succeeds, the prince must transfer all his possessions to him.
Benno's wife Editha is appalled. Eisenbart is gracious. Her husband could keep the principality if the princess slept with him. Flank singers ask Eisenbart to moderate himself. He reduces his demand and only wants the prince to show him respect by kissing his butt. Eisenbart and his assistant Jean Potage exchange their clothes. Prince Benno gives Jean Potage the forced kiss in the belief that he is kissing Eisenbart. The doctor removes the bone.
The Prince of Ysenheim was informed in a letter that he had kissed the servant's bottom and that this was the revenge for the Dorfbader Hirndobel.
Fifth picture: Inn in Magdeburg
Eisenbart has arrived in Magdeburg with his medical theater. He learns that his assistant ran into financial difficulties and therefore pretended to be the famous "Doctor Eisenbart" in Naumburg. But because he had no papers with him, he was arrested and is now waiting for his trial. Eisenbart's wife, Babette, still hopes to win back her husband's love. In her jealousy, she starts an argument with Amaranthe. Eisenbart becomes so angry about this that he breaks with her. Babette swears revenge on her husband.
Sixth image: the city judge's office
Eisenbart traveled to Naumburg to help Jean Potage out of trouble. Since he is unable to identify himself, they are arrested. His assistant manages to escape.
Seventh picture: City Court of Naumburg
The court passed a harsh sentence: death by hanging. But no sooner has the verdict been announced than Babette enters the hall. It shows the documents that exonerate the apparent criminals. The two married couples make up and Eisenbart declares that he wants to be the Dorfbader Hirndobel again.
music
“Doktor Eisenbart” is Dostal's most ambitious, if not his most successful, work for the stage. In the orchestration one misses the string section usual in operettas. Echoes of the melodies of Kurt Weill and Carl Orff cannot be ignored. Musical highlights are the city judge's singing "Vom Wert des Paragraphen" (Vom Wert des Paragraphen) and the final song of the title character followed by the finale.
source
- Operetta guides by Hellmuth Steger and Karl Howe, Fischer paperback no.225 (1958)