Don Sanche ou Le château d'amour
| Opera dates | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Don Sanche or The Castle of Love |
| Original title: | Don Sanche ou Le château d'amour |
Don Sanche in Miskolc (2011) |
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| Original language: | French |
| Music: | Franz Liszt |
| Libretto : | Emmanuel Théaulon |
| Literary source: | Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian |
| Premiere: | October 17, 1825 |
| Place of premiere: | Paris Opera |
| Place and time of the action: | between Iberia and Navarre |
| people | |
Don Sanche ou Le château d'amour (German: Don Sanche or Das Schloss der Liebe ) is the only opera by Franz Liszt and was composed between 1824 and 1825. It is a one-act play and has the Searle number S.1. The material, which is based on the popular knight tales of the time, comes from Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian . The opera remained unsuccessful in the long term and was quickly forgotten.
action
After the magician Alidor has lost his lover, but has still had a wonderful time of love, he builds a castle in honor of love in which all residents live happily, but which only couples in love have access to. The knight Don Sanche, who has come from afar, wants to enter, but is not allowed to, because his lady of the heart, Princess Elzire, does not have the same feelings for him. Out of pity for Don Sanche, Alidor lets up a storm that causes Elzire to interrupt the trip to his own wedding with a king in order to look for shelter in the love castle. But it must not occur either. The actors try to use the opportunity to seduce Elzire in all possible ways: Alidor encourages her confidante Zélis to support and lets Elzire dream of the inner workings of the castle. But Elzire is still not ready to marry Don Sanche and therefore stays outside the castle walls, where the knight sings about her.
Finally, the nefarious, impudent knight Romualde appears, who brutally urges Elzire to marry. Don Sanche wants to protect her through a fight , but is fatally injured in battle and asks Elzire to be allowed to part at her side. His death affects her and sets her love for him free, Elzire is even ready to die in his place. At the end, however, the game is revealed: Alidor only played the evil knight. Nevertheless, both confirm their oath of love and are finally granted admission to the love lock.
Origin and reception
Liszt wrote the opera at the age of 13, although a certain creative and performance pressure from his father Adam Liszt cannot be negated. The support of his teacher Ferdinando Paër , especially in the area of instrumentation , is very likely; how much influence it had on the result cannot be said with certainty. A preview of the overture took place on June 16, 1825 in Manchester . The premiere of the opera on October 17, 1825 at the Paris Opera , conducted by Rodolphe Kreutzer , was enthusiastically received. Nevertheless, only three more performances followed, then the piece disappeared from the program. The opera is seldom performed today, but was shown on many German theaters in the course of the Liszt Year 2011.
At the end of the 19th century, it was assumed that the original performance materials fell victim to the fire in the Paris Opera in 1873. At the beginning of the 20th century, however, they were found in the library of the Opéra Garnier , where they are still kept today. In addition, there is an autograph orchestral score in Vienna .
Web links
- Entry at klassika.info
- Discussion of the Bayreuth production in the theater magazine die deutsche bühne
- Background information in a press release from the City of Bayreuth
- Program booklet for a production by the Nordhausen Theater (PDF; 702 kB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Humphrey Searle: Liszt, Franz . In: The New Grove. Dictionary of Music and Musicians , ed. Stanley Sadie. Volume 11, p. 29, London (Macmillan Publishers Limited) 1980.
- ↑ Humphrey Searle: Liszt, Franz . In: The New Grove. Dictionary of Music and Musicians , ed. Stanley Sadie. Volume 11, p. 51, London (Macmillan Publishers Limited) 1980.
- ^ Klára Hamburger: Franz Liszt. Life and work . Böhlau, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-412-20581-2 , pp. 30 .