Princess Ninetta

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Work data
Title: Princess Ninetta
Shape: operetta
Original language: German
Music: Johann Strauss (son)
Libretto : Hugo Wittmann and Julius Bauer
Premiere: January 10, 1893
Place of premiere: Vienna
Place and time of the action: In a hotel in Sorrento at the end of the 19th century
people
  • Princess Ninetta (soprano)
  • Anastasia Knapp (soprano)
  • Ferdinand Knapp, her son (tenor)
  • Prosper Möbius (tenor)
  • Adelheid Möbius, his daughter (soprano)
  • Kassim Pascha (baritone)
  • Rustan, his servant (old)
  • Baron Mörsburg (baritone)
  • Emilio (baritone)
  • Host (tenor)

Fürstin Ninetta is an operetta by Johann Strauss (son) . The libretto is by Hugo Wittmann and Julius Bauer . The work had its world premiere on January 10, 1893 in the Theater an der Wien in Vienna. Emperor Franz Joseph I was among the premiere guests . At the premiere of the work, electric light was used for the first time in a Viennese theater. The cast included the operetta greats of the time, such as Ilka Palmay, Therese Biedermann , Karl Streitmann and Alexander Girardi. The action takes place in a hotel in Sorrento at the end of the 19th century. It is very confused and the dialogues were not available to Strauss during the composition. The success was based above all on daily news and related allusions. Alexander Girardi appeared with a special straw hat and created the fashion of Girardi hats that continued for a few years and can still be purchased in Vienna today, over 100 years later .

Reception and music

With the operetta Fürstin Ninetta , Johann Strauss tried to build on his earlier operetta successes after the failure of his first and only opera Ritter Pásmán . Nonetheless, he only knew the song texts and the ensemble scenes during the composition; Wittmann and Bauer withheld the plot itself. In this way, however, he created an extremely beautiful work musically.

The work also got off to a successful start and was performed 76 times after the premiere at the Theater an der Wien. Although it was re-enacted by numerous stages, it did not come close to the popularity of other Strauss operettas, such as B. The bat or the gypsy baron . Today the work is practically no longer performed as a whole. Individual pieces of music that Strauss arranged after the premiere are performed in various concerts, including the annual New Year's Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic , to this day.

The most famous musical number of the operetta is the "Pizzikato-Polka", which is still often part of concerts today as the "New Pizzikato Polka" (op. 449). The title was chosen to distinguish it from the “pizzikato polka” that he had composed with his brother Josef in Pavlovsk. The performance song of Kassim: “I once dreamed that I was the Shah of Persia” from the 3rd act is performed more often. The melody is also the head motif of the noble “Ninetta Waltz” (op. 445, premiered by Carl Michael Ziehrer in the Vienna Hofburg on January 21, 1893, published in March 1893) and is also quoted in its introduction.

Sound carrier

A complete concert recording was made in Stockholm in 2007 under the patronage of the Swedish Strauss Society (orchestra: Stockholm Strauss Orchestra, conductor: Valéria Csányi) and was released in early 2009 under the label " NAXOS Classical ". Tua Aberg, Elin Rombo, Henriikka Gröhndahl, Jesper Taube and many others were involved as soloists.

Music numbers

The following music numbers are taken from the above CD:

  • Overture (orchestra)
  • Introduction: Ah, venite belle donne (choir, Emilio, Baron, Adelheid)
  • Song: Goodbye, now go there (Ferdinand)
  • Duet: And say something about all these colors (Ferdinand, Adelheid)
  • Song: I'm a woman (Ninetta)
  • Scene: Herr Wirt, Herr Wirt, a night's lodging (choir, Emilio, Anastasia, Prosper)
  • Couplet: Pascholl, packing is still going on today (Cassim)
  • Finale I: Finally, finally the hour strikes (all)
  • Entr'Act (introduction to Act 2) (orchestra)
  • Lied: The artist is also a dreamer (Ferdinand, women's choir)
  • Quintet: How lovely, how spicy! (Ninetta, Ferdinand, Baron, Rübke, Lord Plato)
  • Hypnosis Duet: Sleep in my dear medium (Cassim, Ninetta)
  • Song: When I was a Backfisch was still tender and small (Ninetta, choir)
  • Song: A Gretchen with a smiling mouth (Cassim)
  • Finale II: The Jettator's Gaze (All)
  • Introduction (to the 3rd act) and Tarantella: Süß melodically drawn away (orchestra, choir)
  • Waltz song: Once I dreamed (Cassim)
  • Pizzicato Polka (orchestra)
  • Quintet: The error can no longer last (Adelheid, Anastasia, Ferdinand, Prosper, Baron)
  • Finale III: Yes, I will protect this little hand (all)

Musical re-use

Independent works by the composer were then created based on motifs from this operetta, which are marked in his catalog raisonné with the opus numbers 445 to 450. These are the following works:

Web links