Giralda ou La Nouvelle Psyché
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Giralda ou La Nouvelle Psyché |
| Shape: | Opéra-comique in three acts |
| Original language: | French |
| Music: | Adolphe Adam |
| Libretto : | Augustin Eugène Scribe |
| Premiere: | July 20, 1850 |
| Place of premiere: | Paris |
| Playing time: | approx. 2 ¼ hours |
| Place and time of the action: | In and near Santiago de Compostela in the 18th century |
| people | |
Choir : Pages, ladies and gentlemen of the court, people, guests, boys and girls from the village, servants |
|
Giralda ou La Nouvelle Psyché (German: Giralda or Die neue Psyche) is an opera-comique in three acts by Adolphe Adam .
Conception
Even if the story of the lustful king is moved to Galicia , there is little doubt that Napoleon III. is meant and the general moral criticism as well as the satire on the royal couple and their court are strongly reminiscent of some contemporary satires by the librettists of Jacques Offenbach .
Musically, the accentuated shortening of the notes on the center of the bar through pauses and the large increases with their rhythmic repetitive figures refer to Offenbach. The conciseness and brevity of the individual numbers set a precedent for the later development of the Opéra-comique .
Giralda has often been described by contemporary critics as the composer's masterpiece and, after its successful premiere, remained in the repertoire of European opera houses for decades .
Instrumentation
Piccolo , 2 flutes , 2 oboes , 2 clarinets , 2 bassoons , 4 horns , 2 trumpets , 2 pistons , 2 trombones , percussion ( drum , triangle , castanets , bass drum, cymbals ), strings
Incidental music: bell
action
I. act
Free area:
When the wedding guests of the miller Ginès appear, the wedding skirt is still missing. When the tailor finally brings it, Ginès sings happily: "My dress of honor, my clean wedding skirt". Finally, Giralda also appears sad and adorned as a bride, who does not love her bridegroom and begs him to release her. She loves someone else whom she has never seen, but with whom she has spoken in the dark. But Ginès, who is after her dowry, does not want to part with Giralda.
Japhet appears and announces that the wedding has to be postponed because the majesties want to stop at the tenant house. He and Manoël, Giralda's unrecognized lover, meet and Japhet, who is secretly married, tells Manoël, astonished, that the maddened king intends to come here. Ginès is also angry about the disruption of his wedding, but when Manoël suggests paying him double her dowry if Giralda is released, Ginès agrees.
In the meantime it has got dark and the wedding guests are coming out of the house. Manoël quickly throws on Ginès's coat, hides his face under the hat pulled wide into his forehead, and instead of Ginès hurries to Giralda's side to the chapel, where he is united with her in the bond of marriage.
In the meantime the king's quartermaster has led him into the mill and the pious queen also appears. She kneels down to pray and wants to spend the night in the chapel. Since she knows her husband as a notorious philanderer, Japhet is supposed to tell her about the king's sleep the next day. Now Manoël returns with Giralda and the wedding guests. The king is delighted with Giralda and has the mill described to him in detail. Since Manoël does not want to be recognized, he disappears and Ginès formally takes the place of the bridegroom again.
II. Act
Inside the mill:
A choir of girls leads the supposed couple Ginès and Giralda and then lead Giralda away. Left alone, Ginès sings “As a bachelor in my mill” when Manoël approaches him. He turns off the light and girls bring Giralda back into the now dark room. Ginès says goodbye to the girls and also withdraws.
Now Giralda learns to her delight that she is forever connected to the beloved stranger. After a love duet, they agree on a password that should serve both to communicate and Giralda moves away to get light.
In the meantime, the king and Japhet have climbed the balcony using a ladder which Japhet accidentally knocked over after the ascent, thus preventing any return. Now he is supposed to stand guard on the balcony while the king prepares to step into the dark room where he suspects Giralda alone. Manoël quietly calls for Ginès and sends him to the chapel to fetch the queen.
Giralda comes back with the lamp, but drops it so that it is dark again. When the summoned queen appears, Manoël quickly hides his wife and also brings the king to safety, who gives him a chain out of gratitude. Ginès hides Japhet in the next room near Giralda and the queen has the mill searched, but in vain.
After the king entered the main door, Ginès, confused, tells of his trade for the clearance of Giralda and suspects that Japhet, who is secretly married to another, is Giralda's husband. Japhet and Giralda now have to follow the royal couple to court as a supposed married couple.
III. act
Hall in the Queen's Palace in Santiago de Compostela:
The Queen proposes Manoël as Grand Master of the Order of St. Jacques because she fears the king's weakness for Giralda and wants to prevent her from staying at court. Her grotesque interrogation of everyone who was in the mill brings nothing to light for her about what was actually going on. Even the ginès, bribed by the king and Manoël, remains silent.
The king confides in Japhet, Rosine's secret husband, and explains to him that he wants to leave Giralda and dedicate himself to Rosine from now on. A letter that Japhet is supposed to bring to Rosine is passed on to the queen, who in turn tells the ladies-in-waiting about the supposed marriage of Japhet and Giralda, whereupon Rosine confesses to being married to Japhet. When the Queen accuses them of bigamy, the confusion is perfect.
Japhet now tells of the attack by strangers on the carriage with which he left the mill and Giralda confirms that the leader of the bandits was her husband who brought them to the palace. Only now does she recognize Manoël, who initially denies being married to her. Only when the king pays court to her and tries to kiss her does he reveal himself, show the royal pledge that he had received at the mill, and demand protection from the queen's punishment. The royal couple signs the alleged contract to appoint Manoël as Grand Master, which is actually his marriage contract with Giralda.
literature
- Piper's Enzyklopädie des Musiktheater , Volume 1, Ed. Carl Dahlhaus and Research Institute for Music Theater of the University of Bayreuth under the direction of Sieghart Döhring, ISBN 3-492-02411-4
Web links
- Giralda ou La Nouvelle Psyché at operone.de , accessed on July 17, 2016
- Giralda ou La Nouvelle Psyché on klassika.info , accessed on July 17, 2016