Mrs. Luna
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Original title: | Mrs. Luna |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Paul Lincke |
| Libretto : | Heinz Bolten-Baeckers |
| Premiere: | May 2, 1899 1922 |
| Place of premiere: | Berlin , Apollo Theater |
| Playing time: | about 2 hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Berlin 1899, a fantastic lunar landscape |
| people | |
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Frau Luna is a “burlesque-fantastic set operetta ” by the composer Paul Lincke based on a libretto by Heinrich Bolten-Baeckers , which was premiered on May 2, 1899 in Berlin's Apollo Theater . It was revised again and again and reached its final version in 1922 with additional pieces of music. The best-known pieces of music from the operetta are the march That makes Berlin air, air, air , the duet Give me a little bit of love and the aria Schlösser, which lie in the moon .
orchestra
Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, a harp, percussion and strings
action
Fritz Steppke is a mechanic and sublet lives with the widow Pusebach in Berlin. He is engaged to Pusebach's niece Marie and is very interested in aviation and extraterrestrials. He's making a balloon for the moon trip. The best friends Lämmermeister and Pannecke are also from the moon party. In the plot and text, the so-called Berlin floor color often appears before the gondola of the Steppke balloon rises secretly into the Berlin sky one night, heading towards the moon. Since Steppke goes to sleep beforehand, it is left open in the original whether the journey is real or only in a dream.
The moon seems to be an eternal amusement park. Venus, Mars and the gods of the stars come together at lavish festivals. Prince Shooting Star loves Mrs. Luna, but she is only interested in Steppke at the moment. Theophil recognizes in Frau Pusebach one of his amorous missteps on earth. Pannecke, with whom she is actually connected, ties up with Mrs. Venus. Theophil loves Stella and lends the prince's spherical mobile for the travelers because her balloon has burst. After some turbulence, every pot finds its lid, and the people on earth travel back knowing that things are no different on the moon than in the attic apartment at home. Fritz Steppke's dream of flying came true, his fiancée Marie found him a job with the first airship captain, Graf Zeppelin.
Songs
The list follows the version from 1922.
- 1st act
- Introduction - orchestra
- ( The jacket sits, the braid flashes ) /
There's something wonderful about genius -
It was a beautiful spring evening /
O Theophil - Castles that lie in the moon - Marie
-
Fast, it's high time /
Just quiet, just quiet -
In the popular mouth there are fairy tales without number /
Even if the years run away (from Im Reiche des Indra , 1902) -
Quick, clean up - moon elves /
From late evening to early morning - performance song Theophil -
Do you love me /
It is written in your eyes -
It often happens - Stella, Theophil /
Give me a little bit of love - Stella, Theophil (from Berlin air , 1905)
(Arrival of Berliners on the moon) - In the express balloon - Steppke, Lämmermeier, Pannecke, Pusebach, ensemble, choir
-
One speaks often in fairy tales (of a man in the moon) - Luna /
Don't hang your head - Luna -
Who light, fresh, happy blood /
happy, lively songs -
Berlin, I only hear the name /
That makes the Berlin air - (from Berlin air , 1905)
- 2nd act
- When the evening falls - choir
-
Time flies /
Surrounded by stars - Luna (from Venus on Earth , 1897) -
A little princess - Steppke, Luna /
When the sun goes to sleep - Steppke, (Luna) - ( If only I only knew ) /
I'm Madame Venus -
If I ever fall in love /
Don't hang your head -
Often it has already been prophesied to us / no matter
how beautiful the world is (1910) - Love comes secretly, quietly and quietly
-
Berlin, I only hear the name /
That makes the Berlin air - (from Berlin air , 1905)
Emergence
Bolten-Baeckers had already delivered the libretto on Venus on Earth to Lincke in 1897, which revolved around a similar topic. The “moon revues”, which were fashionable at the time, also played a role, which were performed in almost all major European cities under the influence of Jules Verne's novel De la Terre à la Lune ( From the Earth to the Moon , 1865).
The premiere on May 2, 1899 in Berlin's Apollo Theater was conducted by Lincke himself (Luna: Willi Walden, shooting star: Siegmund Lieban, Stella: Ada Milani, Lämmermeier: Arnold Rieck). This version had one act (four pictures), was more dramaturgically compelling and can no longer be fully reconstructed today. Soon after the premiere, work began on expanding the piece into the spectacular "Mondrevue", which ended in the new version in 1922. For example, an air ballet was added by the then famous aerial artist's ballet Grigolatis.
Lincke wrote the two-act furnishing burlesque Berliner Luft for Benno Jacobson's libretto . It also premiered in 1904 at the Apollo Theater. During the revision in 1922 he added me a little bit of love from this gift and added the marching song That makes the Berlin air to both act finals . Despite Jacobson's libretto, Bolten-Baeckers is registered as the songwriter. Surrounded by stars , he took from Venus on earth , and no matter how beautiful the world he had composed in 1910. The new version, now with two acts (11 images), premiered again in the Apollo Theater. The additional hits “are not an incidental filler, but have a significantly changing effect on the original dramaturgy. [...] The decisive difference between the two versions is that the new one leaves more space for revue-like insertions, but at the same time dilutes Steppke's 'erotic conflict' about having to choose between Luna and Marie. "
Performance and filming
The "harmless conservative to chauvinistic tone of the Lincke melodies" also suited the National Socialists. So there were splendid resumptions in 1935 in the Theater des Volkes (with Friedel Schuster and Hans Brausewetter ) and in 1936 on Lincke's 70th birthday in the Admiralspalast .
Under the direction of Theo Lingen and with adaptations by Ernst Marischka , a revue film was made in 1941 that spread the news around the premiere - on New Year's Eve 1899. Lizzi Waldmüller , Irene von Meyendorff and Georg Alexander played among others . Give me a little love was presented by Theo Lingen and Paul Kemp (en travestie). At the end of the film, Lincke appears himself. At the Berlin premiere in the Ufa-Palast am Zoo , Lincke conducted the overture at the beginning.
Otto Schneidereit created an arrangement in Berlin in 1957 "which, on the one hand, has a stronger profile through the clear juxtaposition of reality and dream in the fable, and on the other hand suffers from the kitschy nostalgic old Berlin reminiscences and dramaturgically unmotivated musical interludes."
There are still two shortened TV versions from 1964 (director: Thomas Engel , 95 min.) And 1975 (director: Eugen York , 85 min.).
criticism
Lincke himself said of his music: "With my wife Luna I brought lively rhythms to the stage as a real Berlin element, something of the bold Berlin entrepreneurial spirit." Lincke is considered the founder of the Berlin operetta and Ms. Luna is a paragon of this genre. Ms. Luna is the only work by Lincke that survived both world wars.
“In addition to this fantastic operetta [ Jacques Offenbach's Voyage dans la lune , 1875, also a“ moon revue ”], Lincke's contribution to the genre appears simpler, more robust and less critical of technical progress. The certain naivety of Lincke's preferred librettist Bolten-Baeckers may have contributed to this, who had already delivered a book with Venus on earth two years earlier that revolved around a subject not dissimilar to Frau Luna. "
Web links
- Detailed description of the action
- History and numerous photos from various performances
- Ms. Luna - film adaptation 1941 in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Mrs. Luna - TV 1964 in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Ms. Luna - TV 1975 in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Carl Dahlhaus, Sieghart Döhring, University of Bayreuth - Research Institute for Music Theater (Ed.): Piper's Encyclopedia of Music Theater : Opera, Operetta, Musical, Ballet . Volume 3. Piper, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-492-02413-0 , pp. 507-509.
- ^ A b Franz Born: Berliner Luft: a cosmopolitan city and its composer Paul Lincke . Apollo-Verlag Paul Lincke, Munich 1966, 1992, ISBN 3-920030-20-6 , p. 179.