Gugeline

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Opera dates
Title: Gugeline
Closing image of the premiere production, Bremen 1901

Closing image of the premiere production, Bremen 1901

Shape: Stage play in five acts
Original language: German
Music: Ludwig Thuille
Libretto : Otto Julius Bierbaum
Premiere: March 4, 1901
Place of premiere: Bremen City Theater
Playing time: about 2 hours
Place and time of the action: Wonderland and time
people
  • Gugeline ( soprano )
  • The king ( bass )
  • The Prince ( tenor )
  • Humpback the fool ( baritone )
  • The Obersthofmeister (tenor)
  • The monsieur, the signor, the professor ( silent roles )
  • The rich princess ( alto )
  • The learned princess ( mezzo-soprano )
  • The beautiful princess (soprano)
  • The old valet (tenor)
  • The gardener (bass)
  • The gardener (soprano)
  • The Schulze (bass)
  • The rich farmer (bass)
  • The clever farmer (tenor)
  • The strong peasant (baritone)
  • The Dorfwaibel (tenor)
  • The Crier (tenor)
  • King's Courier (baritone [or tenor])
  • Two Heralds of the King (Basses [or Tenors])
  • Voices of the towers (basses)
  • The big junkers, the little junkers, servants of the castle, four hard sheers , three armored men, entourage of the princesses, servants and maidservants of the peasants, peasants ( choir )

Gugeline is an opera (original name: "Bühnenspiel") in five acts by Ludwig Thuille (music) with a libretto by Otto Julius Bierbaum . The premiere took place on March 4, 1901 in the Bremen City Theater .

action

First elevator

Freshly mown meadow in front of an ivy-covered wall under a weeping willow

Behind the wall is a high mountain with woods and meadows; then a large castle surrounded by walls.

The gardener and the gardener rake the meadow in regular lanes. Whenever they meet in the middle, they kiss lovingly. The prince watches the couple from the wall, showing particular interest in the gardener. His fool Buckel, a short man with a violin and bells on his long beaked shoes, tries to pull him away from the wall. The gardeners are startled by the sound of their bells and flee in fright. The prince, who had never seen a woman before, asks his companion about this strange being. However, the king had forbidden Buckel to speak to the prince about women because he wanted to spare his son the experience of lovesickness. In order to explain the nature of love to the prince, Buckel plays a song on his violin. The prince is now determined to get to know the women.

second elevator

Festively decorated state hall in the mountain castle

Large doors in the back left and right in the middle; high arched windows in the rear wall; on the right behind a roofed throne building with several steps, above the prince's throne, beneath which chairs for the dignitaries; upholstered benches on the left and rear walls.

To marry the prince, the king has invited three princesses to a party. Junkers big and small dance happily until the dignitaries - the chief steward, the monsieur and the professor - arrive and the chief steward refers everyone to their places. After the exclusively male servants of the castle and four hard sheers , the prince, dressed entirely in white silk, appears, goes to his throne and gives a short speech. Then the rich, the learned and the beautiful princess introduce themselves one after the other. The prince does not like any of them, however. After each rejection, Buckel plays a piece on his violin and the respective princess leaves sadly. Those present express their disappointment. The prince lets himself be played again by Buckel's way and resolves to look for the woman described in it in the distance.

third elevator

Simple cottage garden with regular beds and hedges

Behind the garden a meadow and a forest; on the left a large farmhouse; on the right behind an arbor, to which a path from the front door leads; in the middle of the path a large rose bush; fruit trees in front of the house; semi-bright summer evening.

Gugeline, the village mayor's daughter, is supposed to choose a husband the next day. She dreams of a prince who picks her up in a golden carriage with four white horses. When Hump's tune sounds behind the scene, she bends over the roses to listen and closes her eyes, moved. At this moment, the prince disguised as a minstrel comes quietly out of the forest and kisses her from behind on the head. Gugeline turns around, looks at him lovingly, and kisses him on the mouth. Both immediately fall in love with each other. Gugeline jokingly hits the supposed violinist with a blow on the cheek and a kiss to her knight.

Fourth elevator

Community meadow

A semicircle of linden trees surrounds the meadow; in front on both sides two large linden trees with grassy root mounds; on the left hill a chair adorned with flowers, beneath it a bench; on the right hill a podium for the village music; behind the linden trees, jugglers' tents, benches and tables; on the linden a green cord as a barrier; on the left a tendril arch for the entrance of Gugelines, on the right another for the suitors.

Even before the official opening of the festivities, the people are enjoying themselves with wine and singing. A crier lures the audience into his tent with curiosities. The village waibel marches in at the head of the village music and announces that, according to tradition, the daughter of Schulzen should choose one of three applicants when she turns 18. That day has come today. He loosens the cord and lets the crowd into the meadow. The jugglers, including the prince, remain behind the linden trees. Gugeline appears with a green wreath on her head and sits on the chair under the left linden tree. When asked by Schulzen, she calls up the three applicants one after the other: a fat and arrogant rich farmer, a thin, cunning farmer and a young strong farmer. To the outrage of the people, Gugeline rejects all three. They are threatened with locking her in the house until she changes her mind. Then the prince, still acting as a violinist, intervenes to defend her. He exclaims that he even wants to fight the prince for Gugeline. The crowd overwhelms him and drags him away. Then a courier from the king arrives looking for the prince. When he was told about the wicked prisoner, he had him brought to the castle for trial. Gugeline follows him amid the scorn of the peasants.

Fifth elevator

Courtyard of the mountain castle

On the left a piece of the castle building, in the middle in front of it a wide stone seat under a pillar roof; on the right a flight of stairs to the actual castle; behind a high, wide wall with round towers on both sides; a gate between the outside staircase and the wall; Doors lead from the towers to the wall; a staircase leads from the middle of the wall to the courtyard; everything in weathered red-brown stone; bright early summer mood.

While people in armor keep watch on the wall and at the right tower gate, Buckel sits thoughtfully at the top of the stairs leading to the courtyard. Trumpets sound behind the scene and he wakes up as if from a dream. He regrets lending the prince his violin without accompanying him. When bells announce the end of school, the small and shortly afterwards also the big Junkers rush to their humps. All have only one topic: The prince has run away. The chief steward tries to restore order. The king asks in vain for information about his son's whereabouts. Instead, the chief steward informs him about the prisoner who is now being let out of the tower - deeply disguised with a hat and coat that are much too big. Hump, the figure looks familiar. Since she refuses to answer any questions from the king, the verdict is quickly determined. But before the king can pronounce it, the tower keepers report a rider. Shortly afterwards the prince appears and asks his father for forgiveness. The relieved king grants it to him. He also promises him the fulfillment of a wish so that he no longer continues in the future. The prince wants "a woman [...] on the spot". He's playing his violin and the hooded figure steps forward. The prince takes off her coat and hat: it's Gugeline. Everyone is impressed by its beauty. The prince says that she swapped places with him in the dungeon in order to save him. The king gives the couple his blessing. When Buckel asks the prince to return his violin, the latter declares that from now on he will carry the bow as a scepter and thus knight him. Gugeline receives a crown. Everyone pays homage to her and goes to the throne cheering.

layout

List of persons in the book version, Berlin 1899

Like the text of Thuilles and Bierbaum's predecessor opera Lobetanz , the poetry of the Gugeline is a typical work of Art Nouveau . The action is so similar to that of the praise dance that it seems traced. Walter Keller assumed that this was not a clumsiness on the part of the authors, but an intention. Analogous to the ornaments in the book editions, the actions are to be understood as “pausing tendrils”: “In 'Gugeline', the style will of Art Nouveau triumphs by turning the stage action into an arabesque.”

The scenic structure of the Gugeline is based closely on that of Wagner's Parsifal . In both operas, the middle picture is clearly separated, while the outer pictures show the same sequence of outside and inside:

Gugeline Parsifal
1st elevator
Freshly mown meadow
1st elevator
forest clearing
2. Elevator to the
State Hall in the Bergschloss
1. Elevator
Grail Castle
3rd elevator
cottage garden
2. Elevator
Klingsor's magic garden
4th elevator
community meadow
3rd elevator
forest clearing
5th elevator in the
courtyard of the mountain castle
3rd elevator
Grail Castle

The plot, on the other hand, is completely symmetrical. In the second and fourth act there is a bride show - that of the prince in the castle, the gugelines in the open air. The fifth act answers the prince's question in the first act about the nature of love with the closing words: "Happiness is won, the sun of the suns, the sun of love that gives itself!"

The libretto has specific scene instructions that thematically refer to Beethoven's Fidelio or Wagner's Parsifal , The Mastersingers of Nuremberg and Tristan und Isolde . Many elements criticize the social decadentism of the turn of the century

The central musical motif of the opera is the fool's way of playing the violin. It appears again and again in different variations of different lengths. The instrumentation is mostly transparent, but to Gugeline's song "Nacht ohne Sterne" in the third act and at the end of the opera it is played by the full orchestra.

The third act, which Thuille composed first, is considered the musical highlight of the entire work. Its prelude depicts in "delicate woodwind colors [...] the image of an enthusiastic girl who vacillates between fear, hope and longing" (Edelmann). With the help of careful motif work, different mood images are created. Edelmann describes the music for Gugeline's first kiss as follows:

“Musical-dramatic, motivic, harmonic and even contrapuntal thinking permeate one another in Thuille's composition. The primary layer is the progression of harmony from B major to E flat major; dis becomes enharmonic to es. The E flat major chord widens into the altered E flat / g / ces chord, an excessive triad, so to speak Thuille's trademark. Melodically, the passage begins with the gugeline motif in the clarinets, which is rhythmically diminished in violin I and flute (bar 3). At the same time, the partial motifs (a) and (b) are rearranged, (a ') is the reversal of cancer from (a). "

- Bernd Edelmann : Program of the Hagen Theater

The music between acts before the second act is designed accordingly as a portrait of the prince. According to a letter from Bierbaum dated November 9, 1898, it depicts “the prince becoming a man”, “who victoriously overcomes all obstacles that stand in the way of his desire to win a woman”.

The opera also contains ancient forms such as the minuet or fugue . In the strictly stylized second act, the entourage of the rich princess dances a sarabande . The fourth act with the “Bauernfreite” is musically more down-to-earth. Here the libretto already calls for a "landlord in the style of the Schuhplattler".

orchestra

The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:

Work history

Cover of the book publication, Berlin 1899

Gugeline is Ludwig Thuille's third and final opera. As with his previous opera Lobetanz , the libretto was written by Otto Julius Bierbaum . The authors wanted to build on the success of the praise dance and, if possible, even surpass it. Bierbaum published the original version of the textbook in 1899 with book decorations by Emil Rudolf Weiß "as the first book publication of the 'Insel'" of the magazine Die Insel founded by him and Alfred Walter Heymel . It bears the dedication “Dedicated to my friend Ludwig Thuille from the heart. Schloss Englar in the summer of 1899. “Bierbaum made minor changes to the final libretto version. For example, the roles of monsieur, signor and professor are only mute roles. The work requires a large cast, which clearly exceeds that of the Praise Dance . There are 21 instead of 13 soloists, three instead of two choir sets and five instead of four different locations. The generic name “stage play” indicates the efforts of the authors to create a new art form. In the newspaper announcements for the premieres, other names such as “five-act opera novelty”, “fairy tales in 5 acts” or “opera in a grotesque-comic style” were used. Like Lobetanz , a game opera with spoken dialogues was originally planned. The final opera, however, is well composed. Thuille began with the composition before the premiere of the Lobetanz.

The first performance was originally supposed to take place in early February 1901 at the Berlin Court Opera under the direction of Richard Strauss . As can be seen from a letter dated February 5, 1899, Thuille intended to play the finished opera to him on a visit to Berlin. This trip probably never happened because Strauss only got to know the work when he visited Thuille in Munich in autumn 1899. According to a preliminary casting plan from October 1900, Emmy Destinn was scheduled for the title role . Intendant Bolko von Hochberg canceled the production when he found out about the effort required.

The Bremen City Theater has now performed the premiere . Even before the premiere, the newspapers reported of the great interest that Thuille's new opera aroused. The dress rehearsal was discussed in all Bremen newspapers. It went to the “general applause of numerous local art lovers and foreign music capacities” ( Bremer Courier of March 3, 1901).

Cast sheet for the premiere, Bremen 1901

The premiere on March 4, 1901 was conducted by Edmund von Strauss , who was then Bremen's theater conductor at the time . Directed by Anton Schertel. The main roles were sung by Hedwig Weingarten (Gugeline), Neugebauer (King), Friedrich Carlén (Prince) and Max Stury (Buckel).

The reviews were mixed. On March 6, 1901, Gerhard Hellmers wrote in the Weser newspaper :

“The local performance, directed by Mr. Capellmeister von Strauss, was excellently staged with unusual luxury for extra choristers and extras and with decorations and costumes and had found representatives for the main roles in Miss Weingarten as Gugeline and Mr. Carlén as prince, like her better to be found. Miss Weingarten's young stage art in particular is, as the role demands, completely naive, unaffected by the paleness of thought and the routine; the sweet magic of childlike purity speaks clearly from the natural, half-comical self-consciousness, [...] and from the bright and yet warm voice of this Gugeline the melt of youth wells up. With the brilliance of his voice and her beautiful art, Mr. Carlén also knows how to give the sighing chocolate prince of the fairy tale a touch of warm life for a moment. [...] The most successful type of poetry and representation was certainly the rich peasant man of Mr. Leffler ... "

- Weser newspaper of March 6, 1901

He praised the composition for its instrumentation, the free harmonics and the "polyphonic tendrils of the orchestra accompaniment, interspersed with ever new, sweet and modestly blossoming and fragrant melodies", but lacked originality. The work is "basically just a faded copy of the 'Praise Dance'". A dungeon scene was probably only omitted to avoid too great a resemblance. Compared to Beethoven's Fidelio, the characters did not generate any real sympathy from the audience: “Leonore lives in us, Gugeline and her prince just play a game that may stimulate the imagination, but never our hearts.” Karl Seifert from the Bremer Nachrichten thought the music "mollusc-like" and "much too refined". She places “the artificial naivety of the text by an equally artificial, but devoid of any naive touch, orchestral fabric. […] Despite all the beautiful details, despite all the art, the work lacks the great, uniform character, the noble simplicity that grabs and pulls away with irresistible force. "The reviewer of the Bremer Bürger-Zeitung found that Thuille's" great mood painting "was not good to the "light [n], simple [n], silver-spun [n] thread of the seal". The critic of the Bremer Courier extensively praised the music and predicted that the work would soon be played on all German stages. However, this did not come true. During Thuile's lifetime there was only one production by the Grand Ducal Court Theater in Darmstadt and a few partial concerts. The third act was played with Pauline Strauss-de Ahna in the title role as part of Richard Strauss' "novelty concerts". The performance material was published generously by Schott's Söhne publishing house in Mainz. The theaters contacted by the publisher, however, rejected the work due to the enormous amount of personnel and staging involved.

It was not performed again until April 17, 1999 in the Hagen Theater under the musical direction of Georg Fritzsch . The production was done by Angela Brandt, the set by Harald B. Thor and the costumes by Dorin Kroll. Peter P. Pachl was responsible for the dramaturgy . Instead of the Art Nouveau pictures from the previous turn of the century, the production showed “Topoi of a trivial myth of the end of the millennium” (Pachl). The castle was replaced by a spaceship, and the prince landed on the meadow with a UFO.

Digital copies

Web links

Commons : Gugeline  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b c work information from Schott Music , accessed on November 5, 2018.
  2. ^ A b c d Walter Keller: "Gugeline" - Art Nouveau opera between "Parsifal" and "Lulu". In: Gugeline. Program booklet of the Hagen Theater, season 1998/99, issue 8, pp. 12-18.
  3. a b c d e f g h i j Peter P. Pachl : The unsuccessful successful opera - On the new staging of the "Gugeline". In: Gugeline. Program of the Hagen Theater, 1998/99 season, issue 8, pp. 3–10.
  4. a b c d e Bernd Edelmann: From Wagner to Art Nouveau - Ludwig Thuille's operas. In: Gugeline. Program of the Hagen Theater, 1998/99 season, issue 8, pp. 19-25.
  5. ^ Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 6: Works. Spontini - Zumsteeg. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1997, ISBN 3-492-02421-1 , p. 295.
  6. ^ A b c Herbert Rosendorfer : Ludwig Thuille - life and work. In: Gugeline. Program of the Hagen Theater, 1998/99 season, issue 8, pp. 27–37.
  7. March 4, 1901: "Gugeline". In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia ..
  8. Cast sheet for the premiere.
  9. Gugeline. Program of the Hagen Theater, 1998/99 season, issue 8.