Spring (Lehár)
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | spring |
| Original title: | spring |
| Shape: | operetta |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Franz Lehár |
| Libretto : | Rudolf Eger |
| Premiere: | January 22, 1922 |
| Place of premiere: | Cabaret Hell in the Theater an der Wien , Vienna |
| Place and time of the action: | A writing room in Vienna around 1920 |
| people | |
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Spring is a one-act operetta by the composer Franz Lehár and the librettist Rudolf Eger . The first performance took place on January 22nd, 1922 in the cabaret Hölle in the basement of the Theater an der Wien . Sometimes the work is also referred to as a Singspiel . It was written in a few weeks during a break in the composer's work on Frasquita . Musically, quotes from Mozart and Franz Schubert can be heard in the operetta .
action
The two typists Hedwig and Toni work in a typing office. You should type the libretto of an operetta that the poet Ewald wrote. The composer Lorenz has already completed the music for this. The poet appears and hands the manuscript to Hedwig to type, while he invites Toni for coffee. Meanwhile, Hedwig starts typing the text. During this work, she mentally immerses herself in the plot of the work, practically living through the operetta. This embedded plot is again about the composer Lorenz, who, due to the housing shortage during an economic crisis, shares an attic with a girl he does not know because both work shifts and have never met each other. With his friend, the poet Ewald, he decides to get to know the girl who works in a fashion store. Then a colleague of the girl turns up. As a result, there are various misunderstandings in the embedded plot, before the composer Lorenz falls in love with his roommate and they become a couple. Then the plot returns to the typing office. Hedwig is done with work. She sees herself as the girl in the embedded storyline and her colleague Toni is also her colleague who appears in the operetta storyline. Now Hedwig realizes that she is in love with Lorenz and the two become a couple outside of the embedded storyline. However, the happy ending is one-sided because only a couple can get together. The poet and Toni do not find each other, which is unusual for an operetta.
reception
The one-act operetta Spring was Lehár's fourth short stage work, which was premiered in the basement of the Theater an der Wien, the so-called cabaret hell . The series of works listed there began in 1906 with the children's operetta Peter and Paul Reisen im Schlaraffenland . In 1907 already was the work here Mitislaw of modernity , a parody of the Danilo figure from the Merry Widow on the stage. The next work of this kind followed in 1912 with Rosenstock and Edelweiss . Spring was to be Lehár's last short operetta. But it was far more successful than its predecessor. It was often played in German-speaking countries and revised by the composer in 1928. The new work was a three-act operetta called Frühlingsmädel and was premiered in Berlin at the New Theater am Zoo . The popularity of the work can also be seen in the fact that a performance was broadcast live by Radio Wien . This made the work one of the first radio operettas. Over the years, enthusiasm for this operetta declined significantly. This was also due to an oversupply of operettas, which displaced each other from the repertoire. Today the work is seldom played. Individual numbers are occasionally performed at concerts.
Music numbers
A CD recording by the Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss under the direction of Johannes Goritzki was released on the CPO label. Contributors were u. a. Stefanie Krahnenfeld, Allison Browner, Robert Wörle and Markus Köhler. The following music numbers can be heard on this CD:
Prelude
Introduction: Oh that's nice
Just a bit of batiste
Oh, I'm so in love with love
Polonaise (plaisanterie)
Little shoes
Lilacs bloom in spring
Valse de Fleurs (Flower Waltz)
When a beautiful woman commands
mazurka
Dizziness, even in the diaper
A sable muff
Come the night belongs to sin
At his first tryst
My heart is like young May
Follow-up and finaletto
literature
- Norbert Linke : Franz Lehár . Rororo-Verlag, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2001, pp. 75-76