Guillaume Tell (Rossini)

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Work data
Title: William Tell
Original title: Guillaume Tell
Title page of the libretto, Paris 1829

Title page of the libretto, Paris 1829

Shape: Grand opéra in four acts
Original language: French
Music: Gioachino Rossini
Libretto : Etienne de Jouy and Hippolyte Bis
Literary source: Wilhelm Tell by Friedrich Schiller
Premiere: August 3, 1829
Place of premiere: Paris, Académie Royale de Musique
Playing time: approx. 4 hours
Place and time of the action: Canton of Uri in Central Switzerland , beginning of the 14th century
people
  • Guillaume Tell ( Wilhelm Tell ), Swiss conspirator ( baritone )
  • Arnold Melcthal ( Arnold von Melchtal ), Swiss conspirator ( tenor )
  • Walther Furst ( Walther Fürst ), Swiss conspirator ( bass )
  • Melcthal, Arnold's father (bass)
  • Jemmy, son of Guillaume Tell ( soprano )
  • Gesler ( Hermann Gessler ), Reichsvogt of the cantons Schwyz and Uri (bass)
  • Rodolphe, leader of Gesler's archers (tenor)
  • Ruodi, Fischer (tenor)
  • Leuthold, Schäfer (bass)
  • Mathilde, princess from the House of Habsburg (soprano)
  • Hedwige, wife of Guillaume Tells ( mezzo-soprano )
  • Three bridal couples and their companions, farmers from the three cantons, German knights, pages, ladies-in-waiting of the princess, hunters, Gesler guards, Austrian soldiers, Tyrolean women ( choir )

Guillaume Tell (German: Wilhelm Tell ; Italian: Guglielmo Tell ) is an opera in four acts and six pictures by Gioachino Rossini . It is his last opera and at the same time his only completely newly composed grand opéra . The text was written by Étienne de Jouy and Hippolyte Bis based on the play of the same name by Friedrich Schiller . The world premiere took place on August 3, 1829 at the Académie Royale de Musique in Paris .

action

The opera deals with the liberation struggle of the Swiss under the legendary William Tell against the rule of the Habsburgs at the beginning of the 14th century. The main features of the plot follow Schiller's play. In contrast to the prevailing discussions and moral developments there, the libretto naturally places greater emphasis on lyrical situations in which the standstill of the plot allows the singing to develop. The number of characters was reduced from 42 to 11 and the Habsburg heiress Berta von Brunegg was replaced by Princess Mathilde, who took the side of the Swiss during the opera.

At the beginning, villagers in the canton of Uri celebrate a triple wedding. Old Melcthal is in the chair. His son Arnold loves the Habsburg princess Mathilde and has to choose between love and fatherland. The festival is interrupted by the shepherd Leuthold, who is on the run from the Habsburg soldiers under their leader Rodolphe. Tell brings Leuthold to safety across Lake Lucerne. Rodolphe has Melcthal arrested and the village set on fire.

In the second act, Arnold and Mathilde meet and assure each other of their love. When Arnold learns that his father was killed by the soldiers, he finally decides to join the fight for freedom. The representatives of the three original cantons appoint Tell as their leader and swear to fight for freedom to the death.

The third act shows a festival in honor of the Habsburgs, during which the imperial bailiff Gesler humiliates the inhabitants by forcing them to bow to a pole with his hat. When Tell refuses, he orders him to shoot an apple off the head of his son Jemmy. Tell succeeds in the feat, but is arrested by Gesler anyway.

In the fourth act, the Swiss discuss how to proceed. While Tell is being transported across the lake by Gesler and his soldiers, a storm breaks out. Only Tell himself can still steer the ship and is released from his chains for this purpose. He jumps ashore and leaves the soldiers to their fate. Meanwhile, Jemmy has set fire to his hut to give the insurgents the signal to start fighting. Since Gesler and the soldiers were able to save themselves from the storm, Tell shoots Gesler with his crossbow. Arnold announces that the Altdorf fortress has also been conquered. So nothing stands in the way of freedom.

first act

The village of Bürglen in the canton of Uri

The festival of the first act, depiction after a French open-air performance (around 1915)

On the right the house of Guillaume Tell; on the left the mountain stream of the Schächental valley, over which a bridge leads; a boat is tied to the bank.

Scene 1. A festival is being prepared in a Swiss village (introduction: “Quel jour serein le ciel présage”). While his wife Hedwige, his son Jemmy and a fisherman were talking in front of his house, Guillaume Tell lamented the loss of freedom of his fatherland by the Habsburgs (quartet: “Accours dans ma nacelle”).

Scene 2. Old Melcthal and his son Arnold join them. Melcthal is supposed to chair the festivities at which three couples are married.

Scene 3. Melcthal teases his son that it is time for him to get married too. Everyone but Arnold enters the house to escape the heat of the day.

Scene 4. Left alone, Arnold confesses that he is in love with the beautiful Habsburg princess Mathilde and that this could turn his people into enemies. Since she is now on the hunt with the hated Reichsvogt Gesler, he wants to meet her.

Scene 5. Tell, just stepping out of his house, notices Arnold's sadness and reminds him of his patriotic duties (duet: “Où vas-tu? Quel transport t'agite?”). Arnold, torn between his fatherland and his lover, finally decides to join the rebels.

Scene 6. The village festival begins. Melcthal blesses the three bridal couples. Those present wish them all the best (choir: “Ciel, qui du monde es la parure”). [In a later version of the scene, Melcthal then gives the couple a passionate lecture about their patriotic duties.] Meanwhile, the sound of horns from Gesler's hunting party can be heard in the distance, with Mathilde also being with them. Arnold sneaks away to see his lover again.

Tell rows Leuthold across the lake (I.10)

Scene 7. Tell, who saw Arnold walking away, followed him. Hedwige is supposed to get the party going again.

Scene 8. There is singing (choir: “Hyménée, ta journée fortunée luit pour nous”) and dancing ( pas de six and pas d'archers ). At an archery, Tell's son Jemmy emerged victorious (chorus: “Gloire, honneur au fils de Tell”).

Scene 9. Suddenly the party is interrupted. The shepherd Leuthold runs into the village, on the run from Gesler's soldiers. He killed a soldier who wanted to kidnap his daughter. He asks a fisherman to take him to safety across Lake Lucerne . But the storm is too strong for this one.

Scene 10. Tell returns without Arnold. He agrees to take Leuthold across the lake by boat.

Scene 11. The villagers ask God for a happy crossing for both of them (Finale: “Dieu de bonté, Dieu tout-puissant”). After the boat has cast off, Rodolphe, the hated leader of Gesler's soldiers, appears looking for Leuthold. Meanwhile, the fugitives reach the safe shore. Rodolphe asks those present who helped Leuthold escape - but no one gives him an answer. Old Melcthal explains to Rodolphe that this land does not harbor traitors. Rodolphe has Melcthal arrested and the village set on fire. The inhabitants swear vengeance on the oppressors (ensemble: "Que du ravage"). But since they are not carrying weapons, they cannot prevent Melcthal from being forcibly dragged away.

Second act

The Rütli plateau with a view of Lake Lucerne

The mountain peaks of Schwyz can be seen on the horizon ; the village of Brunnen is in the valley . Thick fir trees on both sides complete the solitude.

Scene 1. A chase goes by. The participants express their joy about the hunting pleasure (choir of the hunters: "Source sauvage harmonie"). Meanwhile, shepherds in the mountains are driving their flocks into the valley.

Scene 2. Mathilde has left the hunting party to meet her lover Arnold. She celebrates the beauty of nature, which she prefers to the splendor of the palaces (romance "Sombre forêt").

Scene 3. When Arnold arrives, he addresses the class differences that stand in the way of their connection. She assures him of her love and tells him that if he performs heroic deeds in the field of honor, he has every right for the world to hold her hand (duet: "Oui, vous l'arrachez à mon âme"). They promise to see each other again the next day. As a precaution, Mathilde withdraws when Tells and Walters are approaching.

The Rütli oath (II.7), depiction after a Swiss open-air performance (around 1915)

Scene 4. Tell still saw Mathilde. His distrust of Arnold has been aroused and he makes serious accusations. Walther Furst informs Arnold that his father was killed by the soldiers. Arnold immediately joins Tell's freedom struggle (trio: "Quand l'Helvétie est un champ de supplices"). Noises from the forest announce the arrival of a larger crowd (finale: “Des profondeurs du bois immense”).

Scene 5. The representatives of the original canton of Unterwalden appear to join the fight.

Scene 6. The representatives of the Canton of Schwyz also arrive.

Scene 7. Finally, the representatives of the canton of Uri come. All together name Tell as their leader. In Rütlischwur all assure to fight for the freedom of the motherland to the death (oath: "Jurons, jurons par nos dangers").

Third act

The interior of the ruins of an old chapel that borders the gardens of the Altdorf Palace

Scene 1. At a meeting Arnold tells Mathilde about the murder of his father and that he had joined the struggle for freedom. Mathilde is desperate, but she understands his decision and begs him to take care of himself (aria: “Pour notre amour”). Both separate, apparently forever (Cabaletta: “Sur la rive étrangère”).

The market square in Altdorf with Geslers Castle in the background

The apple shot (III.3), draft for an engraving by Charles Chasselat (1829)

Scene 2. In Altdorf the imperial bailiff Gesler celebrates the anniversary of the Habsburg rule (march and choir: “Gloire au pouvoir suprême”). As a humiliation for the Swiss, Gesler had a pole with his hat placed on it, before which every subject who passes by has to bow. The celebration begins. Soldiers force Swiss women to join in the dance. Tyroleans sing a folk song ( Pas de trois - Tyrolienne choir : "Toi que l'oiseau ne suivrait pas" - Pas de soldats ).

The arrest of Tell (III.3)

Scene 3. Soldiers lead Tell and his son Jemmy to the hat bar. Since Tell refuses to bow his head, Rodolphe arrests him and leads him to Gesler. He also recognizes in Tell the man who rowed Leuthold across the lake (chorus: “C'est là cet archer redoutable”). While Gesler and Rodolphe Tell threaten to die, the latter urges his son to flee - but Jemmy prefers to stay with his father and die (quartet: “Tant d'orgueil me lasse”). Tell is disarmed. Gesler lets him feel all his cruelty. Realizing that Tell is only worried about his son, he orders him to shoot an apple from the head of his own child. Tell humiliates himself out of fear, even throws himself at Gesler's feet - but Gesler remains hard-hearted. [In a version of the scene that was deleted before the premiere, Jemmy praises his fearlessness in the face of death (aria: “Ah, que ton âme se rassure”).] Tell regains his confidence and blesses Jemmy (scene: “Je te bénis en répandant des larmes ”). You give him your bow and quiver. Tell takes two arrows from it, one of which he hides. He tells his son not to move (Aria: “Sois immobile”), takes aim and shoots the apple from the head. Gesler notices the second arrow and asks Tell why. Tell replies that this arrow was meant for him, Gesler. The Reichsvogt has Tell and his son arrested in order to execute them.

Scene 4. Mathilde, who arrives just in time and is appalled by Gesler's brutality, frees the boy (finale: “Qu'ai-je appris? Sacrifice affreux!”). Tell, on the other hand, is to be brought in chains across the lake to Küssnacht , where he is to be thrown to the reptiles to eat. During these events the mood of the people changed. One now expresses one's hatred and loathing of the tyrants openly. Only the soldiers continue to cheer Gessler.

Fourth act

In the hut of old Melcthal

Scene 1. In his father's hut, Arnold complains about Tell's arrest and thinks of his father (aria: “Asile héréditaire”).

Scene 2. More and more Swiss people who want to end the oppression rush to him (chorus: “Guillaume est prisonnier et nous sommes sans armes”). Arnold calls on them to follow him in his revenge (Cabaletta: "Amis, amis, secondez ma vengeance").

Rocky area on Lake Lucerne

Tell pushes the boat back (IV.7)

Scene 3. Hedwige is determined to go to Gesler's. Her friends advise against it, as only death awaits them there (scene and recitative: "Où vas-tu? Ta douleur t'égare").

Scene 4. Mathilde brings Jemmy back to his mother. They hug each other (trio: “Je rends à vostre amour un fils digne de vous”). Mathilde suggests staying with the Swiss as a voluntary hostage to ensure Tell's return. Jemmy remembers his father's words: A fire signal should be the signal for the Swiss. He goes away.

Scene 5. A storm breaks out on the lake. Hedwige, Mathilde and the others pray for Tell's salvation (prayer: “Toi, qui du faible est l'espérance”).

Scene 6. Leuthold reports that Tell should be rowed across the lake during the storm. Only he could still steer the ship in this position and was therefore freed from his shackles. Mathilde, Hedwige and Leuthold hurry to the bank.

Scene 7. In the boat, Gesler and the frightened soldiers beg Tell to save them. But Tell jumps ashore and pushes the boat back onto the lake with them.

Tell shoots Gesler (IV.9)

Scene 8. Hedwige and Jemmy greet Tell with relief. He notices that his hut is on fire: Jemmy set it on fire as a signal for the Confederates. He had brought his father's crossbow and quiver to safety beforehand.

Scene 9. Gesler managed to escape from the boat. He and the soldiers cry out for revenge. Tell cocks his crossbow and kills the tyrant.

Scene 10. Walter and the rebels arrive to take up the fight against the Reichsvogt. Tell informs them of its downfall. Everyone celebrates Tell as a liberator. He reminds them that the Altdorf fortress is still standing in the way of their freedom.

Scene 11. Shortly afterwards, Arnold appears with his comrades and announces that Altdorf is in their hands. The storm has now also subsided and opens up a view of the Swiss landscape with Lake Lucerne, the mountains and sunlit glaciers. A great freedom choir closes the opera.

layout

Instrumentation

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

Music numbers

The opera contains the following musical numbers:

  • overture

first act

  • No. 1. Introduction: "Quel jour serein le ciel présage" (scene 1)
    • Quartet (Guillaume, Hedwige, Jemmy, Fischer): "Accours dans ma nacelle" (scene 1)
    • Recitative: "Contre les feux du jour" (scene 3)
  • No. 2. Duet (Guillaume, Arnold): “Où vas-tu? quel transport t'agite? "(Scene 5)
    • Recitative: "Sur nos têtes le soleil brille" (scene 6)
  • No. 3. Choir: "Ciel, qui du monde es la parure" (scene 6)
    • Recitative: "Des antiques vertus" (scene 6bis)
  • No. 4. Choir: "Hyménée, ta journée fortunée luit pour nous" (scene 8)
  • No. 5. Pas de six
  • No. 6. Pas d'archers and choir: "Gloire, honneur au fils de Tell" ("See, Tell lives us in the son")
    • Recitative: "Pâle et tremblant se soutenant à peine" (scene 9)
  • No. 7. Finale: "Dieu de bonté, Dieu tout-puissant" (scene 11)
    • Ensemble: "Que du ravage" (scene 11)

Second act

  • No. 8. Choir of the hunters: "Source sauvage harmonie" (scene 1)
  • No. 9. Recitative (Mathilde): "Ils s'éloignent enfin" (scene 2)
    • Romance (Mathilde): "Sombre forêt" (scene 2)
    • Recitative: "Ma présence pour vous" (scene 3)
  • No. 10. Duet (Arnold, Mathilde): "Oui, vous l'arrachez à mon âme" (scene 3)
    • Recitative: "On vient, séparons-nous" (scene 3)
  • No. 11. Trio (Arnold, Guillaume, Walter Furst): “Quand l'Helvétie est un champ de supplices” - “Qu'entends-je? ô crime! hélas! j'expire! "(scene 4)
  • No. 12. Finale: "Des profondeurs du bois immense" (scenes 4–7)
    • Oath: "Jurons, jurons par nos dangers" (scene 7)

Third act

  • No. 13. Recitative and duet (Arnold, Mathilde): "Arnold, d'où naît ce désespoir" (scene 1)
    • Aria (Mathilde): "Pour notre amour" (scene 1)
    • Cabaletta (Mathilde): "Sur la rive étrangère" (scene 1)
  • No. 14. March and choir: "Gloire au pouvoir suprême" (scene 2)
    • Recitative: "Que l'empire Germain de votre obéissance" (scene 2)
  • No. 15. Pas de trois and choir Tyrolienne : "Toi que l'oiseau ne suivrait pas" (scene 2)
  • No. 16. Pas de soldats
    • Recitative: "Audacieux, incline-toi!" (Scene 3)
  • No. 17. Quartet (Gesler, Rodolphe, Guillaume, Jemmy): "Tant d'orgueil me lasse" (scene 3)
    • Choir: "C'est là cet archer redoutable" (scene 3)
    • Recitative: "Rejoins ta mère, je l'ordonne" (scene 3)
    • Aria (Jemmy): "Ah, que ton âme se rassure" (scene 3, deleted before the premiere)
    • Aria (Guillaume): "Sois immobile" (scene 3)
  • No. 18 scene: "Je te bénis en répandant des larmes" (scene 3)
    • Finale: “Qu'ai-je appris? sacrifice affreux! "(Scene 4)

Fourth act

  • No. 19. Recitative: “Ne m'abondonne point espoir de la vengeance” (scene 1)
    • Aria (Arnold): "Asile héréditaire" (scene 1)
    • Choir: "Guillaume est prisonnier et nous sommes sans armes" (scene 2)
    • Cabaletta (Arnold): "Amis, amis, secondez ma vengeance" (scene 2)
    • Scene and recitative: “Où vas-tu? ta douleur t'égare "(scene 3)
  • No. 20. Trio (Mathilde, Hedwige, Jemmy): "Je rends à votre amour un fils digne de vous" (scene 4)
  • No. 21. Scene, prayer and finale “Quoi! dans nos maux, acceptant un partage "(scenes 4–11)
    • Prayer (Hedwige): "Toi, qui du faible est l'espérance" (scene 5)

music

A special feature of the opera Guillaume Tell is the repeated use of rows of cows (French: Ranz des vaches ), the typical tunes of Swiss shepherds, who they play or sing while tending the flocks. Rossini processed a total of ten such melodies, which he presumably took from George Tarenne's Recherches sur les Ranz de vaches ou sur les chansons pastorales des bergers de la Suisse from 1813. He used them in different ways to create a consistent local color. Often the musical structure only contains fragments from it, but occasionally such a melody is extended to a real theme and varied with repeated occurrences. An example of this is a theme that Rousseau already quoted in his Dictionnaire de musique of 1768, which is also included in Tarenne. In Rossini's second act he depicts the strokes of the oars on the lake, becomes Arnold's call to fight at the beginning of the fourth act and also returns as a motif of liberation in the finale.

The overture is in four parts and differs significantly in its structure and function from the other Rossini overtures. She already announces "the plot of the opera through descriptive musical means":

  1. Andante for five solo cellos: Hector Berlioz described it as "calm and deep solitude, the solemn silence of nature when human passions are silent".
  2. Allegro: a naturalistic storm music.
  3. Andante: a rural shepherd's scene with rows of cows and a solo of the cor anglais, which is answered by the flute first as an echo and then with decorations. Richard Osborne considered it “the most beautiful of the many cor anglais solos” by Rossini. A triangle is associated with the bells of the sheep.
  4. Allegro vivace: A trumpet fanfare leads into the final gallop (moto perpetuo) .

The second act begins with a hunter's choir (No. 8, “Quelle sauvage harmonie”), which “is transferred from a country folk evening song to an exquisite smorzando passage in continuous fifths and octaves”. Mathilde's romance (No. 9, “Sombre forêt”, scene 2) is a carefully orchestrated stophen aria in the French style. Each verse is introduced by a gentle drum roll - according to Richard Osborne "one of the most moving little instrumental gestures in the whole of opera". The trio (No. 11, “Quand l'Helvétie est un champ de supplices”, scene 4), in which Arnold learns of his father's death through Walter and Tell, is an ensemble movement full of musical and psychological details. In the Rütli oath at dawn (“Jurons, jurons par nos dangers”, in No. 12, Scene 7), after a soft drum roll, the gun cry “Aux armes!” Is repeated three times. This is followed by a 16-bar coda by the orchestra. Richard Osborne wrote: "Great thrift and tremendous violence come together here."

Mathilde's cabaletta in her farewell scene from Arnold at the beginning of the third act (“Sur la rive étrangère”, in No. 13, Scene 1) appeared to Osborne as “particularly beautiful, dense and plaintive, calm and gentle”. In the Tyrolienne choir (“Toi que l'oiseau ne suivrait pas”, in No. 15, scene 2), which does not require orchestral accompaniment, the male voices set the rhythm. Tell's aria “Sois immobile” (in No. 17, Scene 3), in which he admonishes his son to remain immobile before the dangerous bow-shot, is at the center of the opera. It's one of Rossini's most personal turns of phrase. At the beginning there is a passage for solo cello, which is reminiscent of a Bach passion.

Arnold's lyrical Andantino aria at the beginning of the fourth act (“Asile héréditaire”, in No. 19, Scene 1) with the subsequent cabaletta (“Amis, amis, secondez ma vengeance”) is considered to be one of the most difficult tenor pieces in the repertoire . For Berlioz it was the most beautiful solo piece in the opera. Richard Osborne considers the Andantino trio Mathilde / Hedwige / Jemmy (“Je rends à votre amour”, No. 20, scene 4) to be “just as touching as the Micaëla subplot in Carmen .” Hedwig's prayer (“Toi, qui you faible est l'espérance ”, in no. 21; scene 5) against the background of the storm expands first to a duet and then to a choir.

Work history

Title page of the piano reduction, Paris 1829

The Parisian magazine La Revue musicale wrote in April 1828 that Rossini had promised a new work under the title Guillaume Tell , but at the same time he had declared that this opera would be the last one he would write. In fact, Rossini did not compose any further operas after that. The 36-year-old Rossini felt burned out and was in poor health. In a good two decades he had composed up to five operas a year for various opera houses - almost always commissioned operas. Now he was financially independent. Nevertheless, he had agreed to compose four more operas if he received a correspondingly high salary, a lifelong pension and a decade to complete these works. However, such a contract did not materialize. Guillaume Tell is Rossini's first newly composed grand opéra for a Paris audience. His other great French operas were adaptations of earlier Italian works by the composer, both of which had premiered at the Neapolitan Teatro San Carlo . So based Le siège de Corinthe on Maometto II , Moïse et Pharaon on Mosè in Egitto .

As a librettist, Rossini first wanted to engage Eugène Scribe , who had already written the libretto for Le comte Ory . Scribe suggested two subjects, which Rossini rejected: Gustave III , which was set to music by Daniel-François-Esprit Auber in 1833 and later under the title Un ballo in maschera by Giuseppe Verdi, and La Juive , composed in 1835 by Jacques Fromental Halévy . Etienne de Jouy's libretto adaptation of Schiller's Wilhelm Tell , however, met with Rossini's approval. This also contained elements from Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian's Guillaume Tell ou la Suisse libre, published posthumously in 1800 .

Hippolyte Bis was commissioned by Rossini to revise Jouy's libretto. Bis mainly rewrote the problematic second act and in the end came up with an acceptable length of the libretto. Rossini discussed one scene with the revolutionary Armand Marrast , the tutor of the children of his banker friend Alexandre Aguado . Adolphe Crémieux also helped with the conception of the finale of the second act. The collaboration of Marrast and Crémieux is, however, doubted by Elizabeth Bartlet, the editor of the critical edition. After completing the score, Rossini still found the opera too long. That is why he deleted a few recitatives, an aria and the end of the second act before the premiere.

The first performance was initially planned for July 15, 1829 at the latest. Rehearsals began in February 1829. Due to contractual differences with King Charles X , the pregnancy of the leading actress Laure Cinti-Damoreau and possibly also because the opera was not finished on time, the date had to be postponed. Annetta Maraffa-Fischer has now been hired to replace Cinti-Damoreau. However, this did not please the Parisian audience. The premiere was therefore postponed and Rossini was able to finish the score in greater peace. One final delay was caused by a hoarseness in the now available Cinti-Damoreau. Even before the premiere, Rossini received the sum of 24,000 francs for the printing rights from Eugène Troupenas. As a result, the sheet music was available very early on - but due to Rossini's latest changes, they no longer fully corresponded to the music of the first performances.

The premiere finally took place on August 3, 1829 under the direction of François-Antoine habeneck in the Salle Le Peletier of the Académie Royale de Musique . Henry-Bernard Dabadie (Guillaume Tell), Adolphe Nourrit (Arnold Melcthal), Nicolas Levasseur (Walter Furst), Charles Bonel (Melcthal), Louise-Zulme Dabadie (Jemmy), Alexandre Prévost (Gesler), Eugène Massol (Rodolphe) sang , Alexis Dupont (Ruodi), Ferdinand Prévost (Leuthold), Laure Cinti-Damoreau (Mathilde) and Mlle. Mori (Hedwige). The sets were designed by Pierre-Luc-Charles Cicéri . It was directed by Louis-Jacques Solomé. Jean-Pierre Aumer was responsible for the choreography of the dances . The most important dancers of the time such as Lise Noblet, Marie Taglioni and Pauline Montessu danced in ballet .

Mattia Battistini as Guillaume Tell

Reports about the premiere varied. The audience behaved in a respectful manner. The press was kind to the composer this time, and the opera gradually grew in popularity. In the August edition, the Revue musicale reported that the audience now understood the music and was constantly discovering new beauties. Up until the fall of Charles X in July 1830, the opera was performed 43 times at the Opéra. But soon they started to mutilate the opera. Adolphe Nourrit, a leading tenor at the Opéra and Arnold of the world premiere, had problems with this role. At the second or third performance, he left out his aria “Asile héréditaire” and the subsequent cabaletta “Amis, amis, secondez ma vengeance”. The tenor Gilbert Duprez sang the high c '' in this passage for the first time in 1837 with the chest voice - contrary to Rossini's ideas, who compared it to the screeching of a capon whose throat is cut. Duprez turned the vocal style and aesthetics that had prevailed up until then and sparked storms of enthusiasm among the audience. Due to its excessive length, Rossini shortened the opera to three acts as early as 1831 and ended it with a new finale. Alexis Azevedo reported in his Rossini biography of 1864 that often only the second act was given with the second or third cast after any ballet prelude. In the last three years before Duprez's debut, only this fragment could be heard in Paris. According to an anecdote, Rossini once replied to the director of the Opéra, Charles Duponchel, when he remarked that the second act was performed that evening: “Oh, really? Everything - the whole act? ”On September 17, 1837, the 100th performance was officially held at the Opéra, and on February 10, 1868, the 500th performance was celebrated. The opera was part of the repertoire of the Paris Opera until 1932. From 1838 she was played in Paris at the Théâtre-Italien .

On March 18, 1830, the first performance outside of Paris took place in Brussels. Six days later the opera was played in German in Frankfurt am Main, on March 27th and April 3rd in Budapest (split over two evenings). An English adaptation by James Planché and Henry Rowley Bishop under the title Hofer, or The Tell of the Tyrol was given in London on May 1st . In Italy the opera was performed for the first time with great success as Guglielmo Tell in a translation by Luigi Balocchi on September 17, 1831 in Lucca . Calisto Bassi , the “main official poet” of the Milan scale, translated the text into Italian one more time. Its version or a mixture of the two later was mostly preferred to that of Balocchi. Due to the political issue, the opera had problems with censorship in some states . There it could only be performed under different titles and with major adjustments in the libretto. In addition to the English version already mentioned, this included performances in Riga (as Charles the Bold ), Saint Petersburg and Warsaw ( Carlo il temerario ). In Milan, the Habsburg censors demanded that the venue be relocated to Scotland, and the title was renamed Guglielmo Vallace . In Rome she was called Rodolfo di Sterlinga.

The first full performance in the 20th century took place in 1972 at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under the direction of Riccardo Muti with Norman Mittelmann , Nicolai Gedda and Éva Marton in the leading roles and a set by Pier Luigi Pizzi . In 1988 Muti conducted a new production at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan on the basis of the preliminary critical edition and with a new Italian text by Paolo Cattelan. The critical edition prepared by M. Elizabeth C. Bartlet was published in 1992. In it were u. a. the last changes to the autograph made by Rossini after the Troupenas edition was created.

Reception of the overture

For decades, the overture served as the musical background for equestrian scenes, especially in comedies. For example, Terry Thomas and Peter Sellers blast away to the sounds of Guillaume Tell in Der kleine Däumling . In Walt Disney's animated film The Band Concert from 1935, Donald Duck destroys the performance of the overture by repeatedly singing “Turkey in the Straw” and thus upsetting the band. It is also used in the film Uhrwerk Orange during a nude scene . This is followed by a clean-up scene in Good Bye, Lenin! on. The Postbus used with the three-tone horn on the mountain Poststrasse a melody from the Andante the overture. The overture can also be heard in the intro to the computer game Day of the Tentacle . Part of the composition is the theme music for the television series The Lone Ranger and the finale of the movie Lone Ranger . This fame of the overture also meant that it was played in concert halls much more frequently than the entire opera was performed in opera houses, especially since it was not one of Rossini's most frequently performed operas.

Recordings

Guillaume Tell has appeared many times on phonograms. Operadis lists 32 recordings in the period from 1952 to 2007. Therefore, only those recordings that have been particularly distinguished in specialist magazines, opera guides or the like or that are worth mentioning for other reasons are listed below.

  • 1948 (film adaptation with actors, first known recording, heavily shortened, with interludes, Italian version by Calisto Bassi): Angelo Questa (conductor), E. Cancilieri (staging), orchestra and choir of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma . Tito Gobbi (Guglielmo Tell), José Soler (Arnoldo), Pina Malgarini (Jemmy), Giulio Tomei (Gessler), Elio Bini (Rodolfo), Gabriela Gatti (Matilde), Anna Maria Marcangeli (Edwige). Bel Canto Society BCS 0657 (1 VC).
  • 1951 (first known audio recording, live, concert version from Turin, heavily abridged, Italian version by Calisto Bassi): Mario Rossi (conductor), orchestra and choir of the RAI di Torino. Giuseppe Taddei (Guglielmo Tell), Mario Filippeschi (Arnoldo), Giorgio Tozzi (Gualtiero Fürst), Plinio Clabassi (Melchthal), Graziella Sciutti (Jemmy), Enrico Campi (Gessler), Tommaso Soley (Rodolfo), Antonio, Pirino (Ruodi) Mario Zorgniotti (Leutoldo), Rosanna Carteri (Matilde). Cetra 3 CD, Warner Fonit 9573 87489-2 (3 CD), Cantus Classics 500317 (2 CD), MYTO 3 MCD 001.216 (3 CD).
  • 1973 ( Opernwelt CD tip: “Reference recording”; complete, with Jemmy's aria as an appendix): Lamberto Gardelli (conductor), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London, Ambrosian Opera Chorus. Gabriel Bacquier (Guillaume Tell), Nicolai Gedda (Arnold Melcthal), Kolos Kováts (Walther Fürst), Gwynne Howell (Melcthal), Mady Mesplé (Jemmy), Louis Hendrikx (Gesler), Riccardo Cassinelli (Rodolphe), Charles Burles (Ruodi) , Nicolas Christou (Leuthold), Montserrat Caballé (Mathilde), Jocelyne Taillon (Hedwige). EMI CD: 7 69951 2, ELECTROLA LP: C 193-02 403/07.

Web links

Commons : William Tell  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Wilhelm Keitel , Dominik Neuner : Gioachino Rossini. Albrecht Knaus, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-8135-0364-X .
  2. a b Guillaume Tell. Notes on the Critical Edition by M. Elizabeth C. Bartlet , accessed May 3, 2016.
  3. ^ Table of contents from the piano reduction by Louis Niedermeyer, Paris 1829 , compared with the libretto and the information from the other sources.
  4. George Tarennes: Recherches sur les Ranz de vaches ou sur les chansons pastorales des bergers de la Suisse . F. Louis, Paris 1813 (online at Google Books ).
  5. a b c d e f g h i Piper's Encyclopedia of Music Theater. Vol. 5. Works. Piccinni - Spontini. Piper, Munich and Zurich 1994, ISBN 3-492-02415-7 .
  6. a b c d e f g h i j k l Richard Osborne: Rossini - life and work. Translated from the English by Grete Wehmeyer. List Verlag, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-471-78305-9 .
  7. ^ A b c d e Charles Osborne : The Bel Canto Operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini. Amadeus Press, Portland, Oregon, 1994, ISBN 978-0-931340-71-0 .
  8. a b c d e f g h Richard Osborne:  Guillaume Tell (ii). In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
  9. a b c d e f g h i j k Herbert Weinstock : Rossini - A biography. Translated by Kurt Michaelis. Kunzelmann, Adliswil 1981 (1968), ISBN 3-85662-009-0 .
  10. ^ Record of the performance on August 3, 1829 in the Académie royale de musique in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna .
  11. ^ Postbus history schwyzer-poschti.de, accessed May 30, 2019.
  12. ^ Discography on Guillaume Tell (Rossini) at Operadis, accessed on November 7, 2016.
  13. a b c Gioacchino Rossini. In: Andreas Ommer: Directory of all opera complete recordings. Zeno.org , volume 20.
  14. Guillaume Tell. In: Harenberg opera guide. 4th edition. Meyers Lexikonverlag, 2003, ISBN 3-411-76107-5 , p. 790 ff.