A field camp in Silesia

Work data
Title:	A field camp in Silesia
	Title page of the libretto, Berlin 1844
Shape:	Singspiel in three acts
Original language:	German
Music:	Giacomo Meyerbeer
Libretto :	Eugène Scribe , Ludwig Rellstab
Premiere:	December 7, 1844
Place of premiere:	Royal Court Opera , Berlin
Place and time of the action:	Silesia and Sanssouci Palace during the Seven Years War (1756/1763)
people
	Saldorf, captain a. D. ( bass ); Therese, his niece ( soprano ); Vielka, his foster daughter ( soprano ); Konrad ( tenor ); Tronk, captain of the Hungarian horsemen ( baritone ); A Hungarian rider (tenor); A grenadier sergeant (bass); An artillery non-commissioned officer (baritone); A Zieten Hussar (tenor); A black hussar (bass); A brown hussar (speaking role); Two NCOs (2 speaking roles); A soldier (speaking role); Steffen, an old farmer (tenor); Nanette (soprano); Two girls (two sopranos); Hungarian horsemen, Prussian soldiers of all arms, sutlers, farmers, peasants, pages, servants ( choir , extras); Sutlers (ballet);

A field camp in Silesia is a “ Singspiel in three acts, in life pictures from the time of Frederick the Great ” by the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer . This work was written in 1843/44 with a libretto by Eugène Scribe and translated by Ludwig Rellstab .

action

first act

Room in Saldorf's country house

Frederick the Great runs the risk of being captured by Hungarian horsemen led by Captain Tronk. To prevent this, Vielka, Captain Saldorf's foster daughter, distracts her compatriots while Konrad exchanges clothes with the king. The plan succeeds and the king escapes.

Second act

Prussian camp life

Songs, marches and dances can be heard. Suddenly the rumor got around that Saldorf had betrayed the king. The loyal soldiers want to lynch the captain immediately to avenge their king. At the last minute he reached the camp and was able to save his captain from the gallows.

Third act

In Sanssouci Palace

Vielka and Konrad are received by the king and should be praised and honored by him for his salvation. Suddenly the news arrives that Leopold, also a relative of Saldorf, is suspected of being a deserter and has been arrested. Vielka and Konrad forego the award of the king and instead ask for mercy for Leopold. A military march sounds and the curtain falls.

Instrumentation

The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:

Woodwinds , two piccolos , four flutes , four oboes , English horn , four clarinets , bass clarinet , four bassoons
Brass : four horns , four horns à pistons, tenor horn, four trumpets , four trumpets à pistons, three trombones , tuba , ophicleide
Three timpani , percussion : bass drum , cymbals , snare drum , triangle , military drum, tambourine , castanets
Two harps
Strings
Incidental music behind the scene: flute, two cornets, two horns, four trumpets, two tenor horns, two tenor trumpets, bass trumpet, tuba, cannon
Incidental music on the scene: four drums
Banda : eight piccolo flutes, two flutes, two oboes, two small clarinets in F, eight clarinets, contrabassoon, six cornets , two horns, six tenor horns, two french horns, ten trumpets, three trombones, two tubas, serpentine , percussion (bass drum, Cymbals, snare drum, four drums, six military drums)

Work history

The camp had its world premiere on December 7, 1844 at the Royal Opera in Berlin on the occasion of the reopening after the fire disaster in August 1843.

Adapted by Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer , this work premiered on February 18, 1847 under the title Vielka in Vienna. Jenny Lind played the title role .

Meyerbeer recorded some numbers of this music in his opera L'étoile du nord in 1854 .

literature

Leo Melitz: opera guide . Globus-Verlag, Berlin 1914, p. 86.
Horst Seeger : Opera Lexicon . Heinrichshofens Verlag, Wilhelmshaven 1987, ISBN 3-7959-0271-1 , p. 190.

Web links

Commons : A field camp in Silesia - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

A camp in Silesia : sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
Arias and chants from: A camp in Silesia. Libretto, 1844. Digitized at Google Books
A field camp in Silesia (Giacomo Meyerbeer) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna
Discography about A field camp in Silesia at Operadis

Individual evidence

^ Sieghart Döhring : A field camp in Silesia. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 4: Works. Massine - Piccinni. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-492-02414-9 , pp. 140-142.

[piper-1] Sieghart Döhring : A field camp in Silesia. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 4: Works. Massine - Piccinni. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-492-02414-9 , pp. 140-142.

Work data
Title:	A field camp in Silesia
Title page of the libretto, Berlin 1844
Shape:	Singspiel in three acts
Original language:	German
Music:	Giacomo Meyerbeer
Libretto :	Eugène Scribe , Ludwig Rellstab
Premiere:	December 7, 1844
Place of premiere:	Royal Court Opera , Berlin
Place and time of the action:	Silesia and Sanssouci Palace during the Seven Years War (1756/1763)
people
Saldorf, captain a. D. ( bass ) Therese, his niece ( soprano ) Vielka, his foster daughter ( soprano ) Konrad ( tenor ) Tronk, captain of the Hungarian horsemen ( baritone ) A Hungarian rider (tenor) A grenadier sergeant (bass) An artillery non-commissioned officer (baritone) A Zieten Hussar (tenor) A black hussar (bass) A brown hussar (speaking role) Two NCOs (2 speaking roles) A soldier (speaking role) Steffen, an old farmer (tenor) Nanette (soprano) Two girls (two sopranos) Hungarian horsemen, Prussian soldiers of all arms, sutlers, farmers, peasants, pages, servants ( choir , extras) Sutlers (ballet)