Günther von Schwarzburg (opera)
| Work data | |
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| Title: | Günther von Schwarzburg |
Title page of the score, Mannheim 1777 |
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| Shape: | Singspiel in three acts |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Ignaz Holzbauer |
| Libretto : | Anton Klein |
| Premiere: | January 5, 1777 |
| Place of premiere: | Mannheim , court opera in the palace |
| Playing time: | about 3 hours |
| Place and time of the action: | In and near Frankfurt am Main , 1349 |
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Günther von Schwarzburg is a Singspiel in three acts in German. The libretto was written by Anton Klein (1748–1810), a Jesuit who, after the order was abolished in 1773, became “Professor of World Wisdom and the Arts” at the Mannheim court. The music was composed by Ignaz Holzbauer , Hofkapellmeister in Mannheim from 1753 to 1778. He dedicated his work to Elector Karl Theodor von der Pfalz .
action
The opera takes place in and near Frankfurt am Main in 1349.
First elevator
Hall in the palace of Count Palatine Rudolf
Countess Palatine Anna wants to put an end to her life. She fears that she will not be able to marry her beloved Karl, the King of Bohemia, if her father chooses his rival Günther as emperor, as he had promised him. Anna doesn't dare to ask Karl's mother Asberta to change her father's mind and leaves. Asberta tries to talk to Rudolf. This makes it clear to her that he feels bound to his word. Although he does not stand in the way of Charles' marriage to his daughter, he will elect Günther as emperor. Asberta is furious and wants her son to take control of the scepter herself. Therefore she promises to make Anna, who has come back in, empress. She gradually realizes that Asberta is more concerned about her own ambitions for power than about the happiness of the young couple. When Asberta wants to speak to Rudolf again, Günther comes. He assures Rudolf that as emperor he will work for internal and external peace and freedom in the empire. Asberta, however, threatens him with civil war if he does not renounce the crown in favor of Charles, who has the blessing of the Pope. Günther asks them to respect the choice of princes. They would also vote for Karl if he guaranteed their rights and freedoms. Asberta is angry again; by the powers of hell she swears: rule or death.
Günther's camp outside Frankfurt
Karl attacks Günther's camp and is defeated. Günther celebrates victory with his followers in the name of the fatherland.
second elevator
Garden in Rudolf's Palace with a view of the Main and Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen
Anna mourns Karl, who she believes has fallen. Initially unnoticed by her, Karl comes into the garden. He hesitates whether he should offer Günther the allegiance or unite with Anna in love. She notices him, but when they are about to embrace, Asberta appears. She asks her son to fight Günther again. Although he wants to stay with his lover, he follows his mother. The Countess Palatine stays behind and fears that she has lost Karl forever.
Place in Frankfurt
The people pay homage to Günther as the new king. This in turn promises to serve the law and the people, to ensure peace and prosperity (“national salvation”). Asberta does not accept Günther's choice, but is willing to continue fighting him with her son. The people repeat their homage to Günther.
third elevator
In Rudolf's palace
Asberta is still determined to gain power in the empire. Rudolf enters and tells her that Günther is dying from a slow-acting poison, which he believes Anna has already succumbed to. He mourns for his daughter, while Asberta cautiously triumphs. Now Rudolf begins to be suspicious of her too.
Area on the Main near Frankfurt
Karl and his people attacked Günther's camp from the river and crushed his rival. The winners celebrate marauding and pillaging. Among them is Anna, disguised as a soldier. She pretends to be Rudolf's messenger, demanding that Karl choose between his love for Anna and the imperial crown. Inflamed with passionate love, he hurries away.
In Günther's palace
Rudolf remains loyal to Günther. Anna, still in disguise, and Karl join them. Karl swears to Rudolf that it was not the imperial crown but only love that determined his actions. At the news of Anna's supposed death, he sinks to the floor. Anna takes off her disguise and he wakes up again. They sing about their love in a blissful embrace. Already very weakened by the poison, Günther renounces the imperial crown in favor of Karl, but also informs him that Asberta is the author of the poisoning. She comes in to stab Günther. Karl prevents them and curses them. She stabs herself to death in extreme rage. Günther dies when Karl and Rudolf are asked to preserve the empire's peace, freedom and independence.
Historical background
1349
With the exception of Asberta, all characters are historical. The main features of the action are also based on facts. Count Palatine Rudolf II supported the weak anti-king Günther von Schwarzburg against the Luxembourg King Charles IV . However, after a short time he renounced the throne in favor of Charles and died a little later, but probably not as a result of a poison attack. Karl was then able to win Rudolf as an ally. The pact was confirmed with the marriage of his daughter Anna.
An indirect consequence of this alliance was that Karl officially made the Count Palatine one of the first seven electors with the Golden Bull in 1356 . The Wittelsbach family was given the hereditary right to elect the German king. In 1648 the house with the Duchy of Bavaria received a second vote on this body. Since it often provided the Archbishop of Cologne, it even had three votes at times.
1777
It was foreseeable that the Wittelsbach House would lose one vote. Both Karl Theodor von der Pfalz and Max III. Joseph of Bavaria were left without a male heir, so that the voice of the one who died first died. It was the Bavarian, still in 1777. Karl Theodor inherited Bavaria, but not its vote, as he already owned one himself. After his death in 1799, the vote fell, like all of his countries, to the Pfalz-Zweibrücken line, which was no longer to elect a Roman-German emperor. As provided by the Wittelsbach house contracts, Karl Theodor moved to the Munich court, while the Mannheim court was dissolved, which also meant that some musicians lost their jobs : The couple Barbara and Ludwig Fischer , who sang Asberta and Rudolf in the world premiere of Günther , went to Vienna, where Ludwig sang the first Osmin in The Abduction from the Seraglio ; likewise the court official and choir director Franz Fridolin Weber , who also went to Vienna with his family and whose daughter Konstanze was later to marry Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart .
As important as the position of the House of Wittelsbach in the empire might appear in view of its electoral votes, its actual situation was precarious. This was especially true for the Electoral Palatinate, which was hardly able to protect its widely scattered parts of the country against incursions by powerful neighbors. The Wittelsbachers' policy fluctuated between defensive neutrality and the ambition to become the third great power within the empire. The latter found its expression in the election of Charles VII of Bavaria as Roman-German Emperor (1742–1745), which was only half-heartedly supported by the Electoral Palatinate . After Prussia had finally risen to become the second great power in the empire through the Hubertusburg Peace , the Wittelsbachers mainly sought their salvation in defensive alliances with Prussia, which increasingly acted as a defender of imperial freedom against the Habsburgs, but avoided any confrontation with Austria. For the choice to the Roman, d. i. Catholic, emperors, a Protestant or Reformed prince was out of the question anyway.
layout
libretto
The libretto is full of allusions to the circumstances just outlined, which have only just begun to be deciphered. Last but not least, it served to glorify the electoral dynasty and to propagate the intentions and goals of Karl Theodor's politics. However, Klein did not succeed in creating a libretto that was suitable for operas and the stage despite these requirements. That would have been possible if Rudolf had been in conflict between his loyalty to Günther and his daughter's love affair with his rival Karl. But this is already decided in the second scene: both are obviously possible at the same time. Another problem was also difficult: As a member of the Electoral Palatinate dynasty and therefore as a popular figure, Anna was not allowed to appear power-hungry. As a result, she was committed to the long-suffering, tolerant lover, who, however, cautiously becomes active for her lover in the last act. The alternative to it is Asberta, who, in order to avoid possible diplomatic entanglements, was not allowed to be a historical person. In contrast to some of the other “mad women” in the dramas and operas of this time (such as Orsina in Emilia Galotti and Vitellia in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito ), however, she is very one-dimensional, as it is drawn exclusively by lust for power.
After Alceste by Christoph Martin Wieland and Anton Schweitzer opened up Guenther of Schwarzburg in the tradition of Goethe's Götz von Berlichingen the German Opera a new substance reservoir: the medieval Germany. Since the decorations, partly with a view of the city of Frankfurt in the background, cannot easily be used for other operas, the opera is also one of the earliest pieces of equipment in the style of the grand opéra .
The decorations for the premiere were created by Lorenzo Quaglio , the progenitor of the family of painters and theater decorators who later lived in Munich.
music
When Günther is mentioned, Mozart's judgment on it should not be missing. The famous excerpt from his letter to his father dated November 14, 1777, which he wrote after a performance he attended, should also be quoted here: “Holzbauer's music is very beautiful. poetry is not worthy of such music. Most of all I am amazed that a man as old as Holzbauer still has so much spirit; because you can't believe what's fiery in music ”.
Instrumentation
The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:
- Woodwind : two flutes , two oboes , two bassoons
- Brass : two horns , two trumpets
- Timpani
- Strings
- Basso continuo
Recordings
Only two recordings are currently available.
A recording is available from Hessischer Rundfunk in cooperation with cpo. Robert Wörle sings Günther, Michael Schopper sang Rudolf, Claron McFadden sang Anna, Clarry Bartha sang Asberta and Christoph Prégardien sang Karl. The orchestra La Stagione Frankfurt plays with the vocal ensemble La Stagione under the direction of Michael Schneider .
Another recording was made in 1960 in Milan in Italian. The participants are Luigi Infantino (tenor) as Günther, Raffaele Arie (bass) as Rudolf, Anna Moffo (soprano) as Anna, Giacinto Prandelli (tenor) as Karl and Orietta Moscucci (soprano) as Asberta. The Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano della RAI will make music under the direction of Oliviero De Fabritiis. The recording is available from MYTO.
literature
- Score. First printing Mannheim undated, probably 1777. Reprint: Monuments of German music art. Volume 1 (1902).
- Helga Lühning: Günther von Schwarzburg. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 3: Works. Henze - Massine. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-492-02413-0 , pp. 99-102, with the older literature. The original handwritten score has since been found, see web links.
- Michael Schwarte, in: Supplement to the recording by hr and cpo, 1995.
- Jörg Krämer: German-language music theater in the late 18th century. 2 volumes, 1998.
Web links
- Günther von Schwarzburg : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Libretto, Mannheim 1777. Digitized at Google Books
- Article on the retrieved autograph score on mannheim.de
Individual evidence
- ^ W. Kreutz: "Foreign policy and diplomatic relations (Karl Theodors) until 1789." In: Lust for life and piety. Elector Karl Theodor (1724 - 1799) between the Baroque and the Enlightenment. Exhibition catalog Mannheim and Düsseldorf 1999, vol. 1, pp. 217–224.
- ↑ Dieter Borchmeyer. In: Mozart or The Discovery of Love. Pp. 90-141
- ↑ Quotation from the booklet accompanying the recording of the opera by the hr and the cpo label 1995, p. 9.
- ^ Helga Lühning: Günther von Schwarzburg. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 3: Works. Henze - Massine. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-492-02413-0 , pp. 99-102.