In the white Rößl
| Work data | |
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| Title: | In the white Rößl |
| Shape: | Singspiel |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Ralph Benatzky |
| Libretto : | Ralph Benatzky, Hans Müller-Einigen , Erik Charell ; Lyrics by Robert Gilbert |
| Literary source: | In the white Rößl by Oskar Blumenthal and Gustav Kadelburg |
| Premiere: | November 8, 1930 |
| Place of premiere: | Berlin |
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Im Weißen Rössl is a singspiel in three acts by Ralph Benatzky from 1930. The setting is the Hotel Weißes Rössl in St. Wolfgang in the Salzkammergut in Austria. The libretto comes from the composer together with Hans Müller-Einigen and Erik Charell . The lyrics are by Robert Gilbert , musical interludes by Bruno Granichstaedten , Robert Gilbert and Robert Stolz . An old Berlin comedy of the same name by Oskar Blumenthal and Gustav Kadelburg , which the two authors wrote in 1896 during a stay in the Villa Blumenthal near Bad Ischl , served as a template .
The Singspiel Im Weiße Rößl was premiered on November 8, 1930 in the Großer Schauspielhaus in Berlin, staged by Erik Charell with Max Hansen as Leopold and Camilla Spira as Josepha. The set was designed by Ernst Stern .
plot
1st act
It is high season at the Hotel Zum Weisse Rößl . The staff is overwhelmed, the waiter Leopold calms down the dissatisfied guests (but gentlemen, just nice and cozy) . He has less success with his charm with his boss Josepha Vogelhuber, with whom he makes advances (it must be something wonderful to be loved by you) . However, she rejects him: She is in love with the Berlin lawyer Dr. Otto Siedler, a long-time regular, who is expected for the afternoon and then greeted warmly by her (duet and choir: In the white Rößl on Lake Wolfgang, happiness is just around the corner ). Another guest is also reluctant to see his appearance: The manufacturer Wilhelm Giesecke, only here on vacation at the insistence of his daughter Ottilie (" I prefer Ahlbeck !") And Josepha is only insufficiently enthusiastic about the area (In the Salzkammergut, da ka ' always be good fun) , has lost a lawsuit against him and his client, his ore competitor Sülzheimer. However, this does not prevent daughter Ottilie from giving in to the advances of Siedler (the whole world is sky blue when I look into your eyes) . The first act ends in the pouring rain (choir: When it really rains here ).
2nd act
Leopold refuses to bring a bouquet of flowers from Josepha to Dr. Settlers and confess his love to her. They quarrel, and Leopold is fired (i can watch) . Meanwhile the son of the factory owner Sülzheimer has also arrived, who fell in love with the lisping Klärchen on the train there (what can Sigismund do for being so beautiful) .
Since Emperor Franz Joseph I announces himself as a guest, Josepha is forced to employ Leopold again in order to have enough staff. When he is supposed to greet the emperor, however, there is almost a scandal: Josepha appears on Dr. Settlers, and the jealous Leopold becomes enraged. As soon as the Kaiser is in the hotel, Leopold bursts into tears.
3rd act
The emperor speaks to Josepha. He has seen through the confusion and advises her to rather be satisfied with the possible than to strive for dreams (it's once in a lifetime / everyone is the same / what one would like so much / is so far away) . Josepha realizes that Leopold genuinely loves her and, on the pretext of wanting to fire him again because of yesterday's scandal, gives him a surprising testimony: "Dismissed as a waiter, but committed for life as a husband".
In the meantime Giesecke has tried to pair his daughter with the son of his competitor, but she has long since accepted Doctor Siedler's proposal (My love song must be a waltz) . In addition, Sigismund Sülzheimer asked for Klarchen's hand. The grumpy manufacturer now has to accept this, which is sweetened for him by an offer from Sülzheimer to settle the dispute. The operetta ends with the joyful singing of the three happy couples (let's drink champagne with a smiling face) .
history
The piece was a revue operetta produced by director Erik Charell, with which the director of the Great Playhouse in Berlin continued his series of successful historical operettas (preceded by a similar production team: Casanova , 1928 and The Three Musketeers , 1929). UFA's chief dramaturge , Hans Müller, was commissioned to transform the old Schwank von Blumenthal and Kadelburg from 1898 into an operetta.
The most important renewal of Müller was the introduction of the emperor in the finale of the second act. Ralph Benatzky was again in charge of the musical supervision; As in the previous joint pieces, he should combine his own music with “historical” music (Austrian national anthem, folk songs, etc.). At the last second, Charell decided to insert single tracks from other pop composers (much to Benatzky's annoyance). The foxtrot came from Robert Stolz The whole world is sky blue and the waltz Mein Liebeslied must be a waltz in the score (Stolz sold the copyright to these numbers to Charell and later sued in vain to get a share in the royalties of the “Rößl” ). In addition to a number of other additions (including the title There's Danger in Your Eyes, Cherie by Harry Richman, Jack Meskill and Pete Wendling from the MGM musical Puttin 'on the Ritz , which is part of It's not the last time we're we see was converted writes the lyrics) were the most prominent, added at the last minute songs zuschaun kan i net Bruno Granichstaedten and What can the Sigismund to it that he is so nice of Robert Gilbert. Contrary to other contractual agreements, Gilbert was also commissioned at the last second to rewrite all lyrics instead of Benatzky. Due to a lack of time, Eduard Künneke was commissioned to take over the instrumentation of the work and to write the choirs. His name was not mentioned in the list of authors and only came to light through later research (see Fritz Hennenberg's Benatzky biography).
The cast of the premiere was dominated by film and cabaret stars such as Max Hansen , Siegfried Arno , Camilla Spira , Otto Wallburg and Paul Hörbiger . The only opera singer in the ensemble in 1930 was Walter Jankuhn as Dr. Settlers. The main hits were recorded by the premiere singers on shellac in dance band versions, they are now available on CD (among other things, restored by Duo-phon Records in a separate "Rößl" album).
Two other compositions by Robert Stolz can be found in the English and French productions of the White Horse Inn: Adieu, my little guard officer (Good Bye) and You too will cheat me one day (You Too) . According to Charell's testamentary decree, they may not be inserted in the “Rößl” in Germany; this is a consequence of the endless litigation between Stolz and Charell after the Second World War, in which Stolz tried again and again unsuccessfully to claim a share of the royalties.
Almost all titles of the 1932 Paris version were recorded with the first and second cast; they are now also available on CD.
The work was banned in National Socialist Germany because of its Jewish co-authors and branded as “ degenerate ” because of the disrespectful treatment of “folklore” . In particular, the scandalous bathing scene aroused the annoyance of the National Socialists.
In London in 1931 the play brought 651 performances en suite (twice a day) in an Erik Charell production . The English version was created by Harry Graham. Lea Seidl from Berlin excelled as the Rößl landlady, while Leopold played the British comedian Clifford Mollison.
In New York, The White Horse Inn was played 223 times on Broadway at the Center Theater in Rockefeller Center in 1936, again in a musically recomposed Charell production , with Kitty Carlisle as the hotel host and William Gaxton as the head waiter (previously in Cole Porter's Anything Goes occurred). In New York, Irving Caesar, known for songs like Tea for Two and Just a Gigolo, was responsible for the translation of the lyrics . The new instrumentation came from Hans Spialek (who had orchestrated many Gershwin and Rodgers and Hart musicals). Excerpts from this Broadway version have since been released on CD by Sepia Records , with the singers from 1936.
About the premiere production in Berlin in 1930, the BZ wrote am Mittag : “Wolfgang's landscape builds up into the glowing alpine peaks and goes around the parquet floor, which becomes a basin. To certify the authenticity, a real omnibus rolled onto the stage (albeit far too punctually), the lake invites you to swim, a waterfall unwinds its silver thread, a real rain constricts from the sky, and goats grumble at you. Schuhplattler, yodelers, waddle dancers and the costumes, which are traditional costumes, are also washable. A people of dairymen, shepherds, hunters, riflemen, firefighters, veterans, farmers, inn people color the milieu. And the local color is, so to speak, syncopated by the internationality of the girls and boys, who are supposed to prove that St. Wolfgang is not out of the world either. Her dances are the flowing ribbon that unrolls the plot, carries it up, divides it into bars and acts. […] In these dances not only the rhythm of the legs, the music, but also the costumes triumph: colors, fabrics, harmony. Ernst Stern is a symphonist here, a professor with good reason. Beautiful. The rhythm, the division into two parts continues into the orchestra, whose left is jazz, whose radical right is zither and lute, homesick sounds under a Styrian hat and cocktails. "
Rediscovery of the premiere version
The volume of essays published by Ulrich Tadday (see literature) also aroused interest in the original version of the Rößl in many theaters , especially at the Dresden State Operetta (the last remaining independent operetta stage in German-speaking countries), so that since 2006 there has been an increased search after the original orchestral material began, parallel to attempts to create a new instrumentation in the 1930 style. At the beginning of 2009, various people surprisingly found what they were looking for in Zagreb, where the complete historical orchestral material appeared, which corresponds one-to-one with the piano reduction from 1930, the complete dance volutions (some of which are only contained in the piano reduction) and also the parts for the stage music (jazz band , Zither trio, steamer and fire brigade band).
That the particular circumstances of well over 5,000 seats equipped Berlin Grosses Schauspielhaus adapted and intended for large orchestra original material from Eduard Künneke (including cow and church bells, zither group, jazz combo, etc.) was developed by Matthias Grimminger and Henning Hagedorn commissioned of the Dresden State Operetta with the consent of the Felix Bloch Erben publishing house "stage technology set up", d. This means that such a version was created (“while largely preserving the original sound image”), which had its world premiere on June 19, 2009 at the Dresden State Operetta (staging and choreography: Winfried Schneider , musical director Christian Garbosnik ), but also afterwards has been made available by the publisher as material for productions at other companies.
The rediscovered Rößl is brighter and more jazzy than the 1950s arrangement that has been played to this day. Even the historical recordings of individual music numbers could only give a rough idea of it. The original is characterized by a dramaturgy of variety, surprising modulations and abrupt changes in style. Stylistically, the original version ranges from the Viennese Classic to the Wienerlied with a zither trio and echoes of folk music to the light music of the time it was composed, with a jazz band in the orchestra setting clear accents. In this original form, the White Horse Inn has an audible proximity to the Threepenny Opera music by Kurt Weill , which had premiered two years earlier , as well as proximity to the sound film hit and the great Berlin revues of the 1920s.
The Rößl from 1930 is musically distinguished by its extensive dance sequences; Fashion dances of the time such as foxtrot , slow fox and Schimmy alternate with waltz and march , top ballet with jazz dance. New music numbers are added. The dialogue version is more pointed and snappy. Overall, the attitude of the Ur- Rößl is more satirical than in the usual post-war version, which downplayed the piece on homeliness. This original version is a fast-paced, dance-like, gyrating and enjoyably staggering balance of the legendary entertainment theater of the Weimar Republic, from the revue pictures of the Roaring Twenties to the tongue-in-cheek, linguistic and musical confrontation of the Austrian Alps with the Berlin business world.
With its 60th performance, the revival version found had its "revival premiere" on March 11, 2017 in the new venue of the Dresden State Operetta in the Kraftwerk Mitte in Dresden. "Resumption" on the one hand, because essential elements of the original (and in the meantime long since discontinued) performance were taken up and thus retained, "Premiere" on the other hand, since almost all performers were newly cast due to the passage of time (rare exception, e.g. the actor in Piccolo , the was specially re-engaged) and Winfried Schneider also completely reworked the choreography for the expanded possibilities of the current venue. The guest of honor that evening was almost 90-year-old Waltraut Haas , who played the Rössl landlady with Peter Alexander in the well-known 1960 film.
Well-known music numbers
- In the white Rößl at the Wolfgangsee (Ralph Benatzky)
- What can Sigismund do for being so beautiful? (Robert Gilbert)
- In the Salzkammergut, you can be funny there (Ralph Benatzky)
- It must be something wonderful (Ralph Benatzky)
- My love song must be a waltz (Robert Stolz)
- The whole world is sky blue (Robert Stolz)
- It's like that once in a lifetime (Ralph Benatzky)
- I can watch ( Bruno Granichstaedten )
- And when the Lord made May (Ralph Benatzky)
Film adaptations
- 1926: Im Weiße Rößl , directed by Richard Oswald , with Liane Haid as Josepha Voglhuber , Max Hansen as head waiter Leopold . This is a silent film, i.e. a film adaptation of Blumenthal's comedy, not the Singspiel.
- 1935: Director: Carl Lamac , with Christl Mardayn as Josepha and Hermann Thimig as Leopold . Theo Lingen played the Prince of Commerce , a kind of substitute for the emperor.
- 1952: Im Weiße Rößl , director: Willi Forst , with Johanna Matz as Josepha , Johannes Heesters as Dr. Siedler , Walter Müller as Leopold and Ingrid Pan as Klärchen Hinzelmann .
- 1960: In the white Rößl . This version (with Peter Alexander , Gunther Philipp and Waltraut Haas ) was based on the operetta, but made numerous changes. The plot was moved to the 1960s, which made it possible for Sülzheimer to arrive in front of the Weissen Rössl in a helicopter . Ottilie Giesecke was renamed "Brigitte". Finally, the music was put into more modern arrangements by Heinz Gietz , enriched with swing and hit elements. The appearance of Emperor Franz Joseph had to be omitted, of course, but the steamer "Emperor Franz Joseph I." appears as a reminiscence at the beginning of the film.
- 1964: Danish version: Sommer i Tyrol Director: Erik Balling , with Dirch Passer as Leopold, Susse Wold as Josefa, Ove Sprogøe as Sigismund, Lone Hertz as Clara, Peter Malberg as Kaiser.
- 1967: Director: Hans-Dieter Schwarze, with Johanna Matz as Josepha Vogelhuber, Peter Weck as Leopold Brandmeyer, Fritz Benscher as Wilhelm Giesecke, Violetta Ferrari as Ottilie, his daughter, Erik Schumann as Dr. Otto Siedler - lawyer, Karl Lieffen as Sigismund Sülzheimer, Hans Epskamp as Professor Dr. Hinzelmann, Helga Anders als Klärchen - his daughter and Erik Frey as Emperor Franz Joseph I. This is a German television production that was made in black and white and consisted of actors who were very popular at the time.
- 1979: Director: Eberhard Hauff , with Margot Werner as Josepha Vogelhuber, Helmut Lohner as Leopold, Heinz Zuber as Sigismund and Erik Frey as Emperor Franz Joseph. A television adaptation of the Bavarian Radio, which tries to avoid all operetta clichés. Shot in St. Gilgen- Lueg on Lake Wolfgang. [1]
- 2013: In the White Horse Inn - Woe to you singing! Director: Christian Theede , with Diana Amft , Tobias Licht , Fritz Karl , Edita Malovcic , Gregor Bloéb , Armin Rohde . Cinema release in Germany November 7, 2013.
Recordings of theatrical performances
- 1994: Im Weiße Rößl am Wolfgangsee , directed by Ursli Pfister , with Andreja Schneider (Josepha) , Toni Pfister (Leopold) , Max Raabe (Dr. Siedler) , Otto Sander (Professor Hinzelmann) , Ursli Pfister (Sigismund Sülzheimer) , Meret Becker (Klärchen) , Lilian Naef (Ottilie) , Gerd Wameling (Giesecke) , Andreas Guglielmetti (Piccolo) , Monika Hansen (Kathi, the mail carrier) , Walter Schmidinger (Emperor Franz Joseph) , live recording from the bar every reason in Berlin, published on DVD and broadcast on this program every New Year's Eve until the ZDF theater channel is closed. "A new day has sounded for German operetta!" ( Der Spiegel )
- 2008: Director: Karl Absenger, with Zabine Kapfinger (Josepha), Rainhard Fendrich (Leopold), Marco Jentzsch (Dr. Siedler), Klaus-Dieter Lerche (Giesecke), Klaus Eberhartinger (Sigismund), Harald Serafin (Kaiser), live ORF recording of the premiere of the Mörbisch Seefestspiele , musical direction: Rudolf Bibl .
literature
- Kevin Clarke (Ed.): Glitter and be Gay. The authentic operetta and its gay admirers . Männerschwarm-Verlag, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 3-939542-13-X .
- Fritz Hennenberg: Lively draft horse or tired horse? News from the “White Horse Inn”. In: Schweizer Musikzeitung 11 (2008), no. 3, pp. 19–21.
- Johannes Kamps: Waiters, gas station attendants and schoolgirls in love. To Willi Forst's remakes . In: Armin Loacker (ed.): Willi Forst: A film style from Vienna . Filmarchiv Austria, Vienna 2003, ISBN 3-901932-24-0 , pp. 478-529 (online: Part I , Part II ).
- Helmut Peter, Kevin Clarke: In the White Horse Inn - On the trail of a global success . St. Wolfgang 2007, ISBN 3-200-01030-4 .
- Ulrich Tadday (Ed.): In the White Horse Inn. Between art and commerce (= music concepts; 133/134). Edition Text & Kritik, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-88377-841-9 (review / information codexflores.ch ( Memento of 26 October 2007 at the Internet Archive ), operetta-research-center.org ).
Web links
- Oskar Blumenthal and Gustav Kadelburg: In the white Rößl. Comedy in three acts at Zeno.org .
- Reviews of the operetta premiere in 1930 and various historical productions; also online version of the biographical essay on Erik Charell from Glitter and be Gay / 2007 in the press archive
- historical and modern reviews of Benatzky, Charell and the Rössl
- O tempora! Caricature in the satirical newspaper Kladderadatsch of January 29, 1933 (No. 5, p. 5) ("Das Weimar" is to be performed in the National Theater in Weimar) as a digitized version in the digitization center of the Heidelberg University Library
- Comparison of the Rößl with the Billy Wilder film The Emperor Waltz (1948). User comment on the Internet Movie Database (English)
- When I came back : The second part of Im Weißen Rößl as an operetta world premiere at theaterfreunde.com .
- Behind the scenes report on the Berlin staging in the bar of everyone on YouTube
Individual evidence
- ↑ Im Weisse Rößl ( Memento of the original from March 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of the Dresden State Operetta
- ↑ The original orchestral parts from the 1930s “White Horse Inn” in Zagreb emerged. Article on musenblaetter.de , accessed December 9, 2014.
- ↑ Im Weisse Rößl (1926) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ Im Weisse Rößl (1935) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ Sommer i Tyrol in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ Im weissen Rößl (1967) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ↑ In the Weißen Rößl am Wolfgangsee ( Memento of the original from December 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on Geschwister-pfister.de , accessed on December 9, 2014.
- ↑ Im Weisse Rößl am Wolfgangsee (1994) in the Internet Movie Database (English)
