La muette de Portici
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The mute from Portici |
| Original title: | La muette de Portici |
Eruption of Vesuvius at the end of the opera |
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| Shape: | Grand opéra |
| Original language: | French |
| Music: | Daniel-François-Esprit Auber |
| Libretto : | Eugène Scribe and Germain Delavigne |
| Premiere: | February 29, 1828 |
| Place of premiere: | Paris Opera , Paris |
| Playing time: | approx. 150 min. |
| Place and time of the action: | Naples and Portici in the summer of 1647 |
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La muette de Portici ( German Die Mute von Portici ) is a great historical opera in five acts by the composer Daniel-François-Esprit Auber . The libretto is by Eugène Scribe and Germain Delavigne . On February 29, 1828, this work was premiered at the Paris Opera .
action
The plot relates to a revolt of the Neapolitans under Tommaso Aniello d'Amalfi against the Spanish occupiers in the 17th century. Portici is the name of a small fishing port in a suburb of Naples. The title character Fenella is - obvious but unusual for an opera - a silent role .
The opera begins with preparations for the wedding of Princess Elvire to Alphonse, the son of the Spanish viceroy. The silent girl Fenella recognizes him as her rapist and kidnapper. This provokes her brother, the fisherman Masaniello, to lead an uprising against the hated Spanish occupation. Elvire forgives Alphonse and tries to find Fenella. When Masaniello threatens to lose control of the uprising, Alphonse and Elvire seek protection from Masaniello, who now has to fear the wrath of his rebellious friends. His friend Pietro sees him as a traitor and potential tyrant and poisons him. Masaniello, dying, manages to save Elvire from the rebels. Alphonse has now managed to mobilize troops against the revolt . At the end of the opera, Vesuvius erupts and Fenella falls desperately into the glowing lava.
1st act - in front of a chapel
2nd act - on the beach
3rd act - market square in Naples
4th act - Masaniello's apartment
5th act - ballroom in the palace with a view of Vesuvius
Performance history
After its premiere on February 29, 1828 at the Paris Opera ( Salle Le Peletier ), the opera had a resounding success. In Paris alone the work was performed 505 times by 1882 and 285 times in Berlin by the turn of the century. It is considered the first work of the French grand opéra genre.
This opera had its 100th performance at the Paris Opera in 1840; In 1880 the 500th was celebrated. Karl August von Lichtenstein translated the libretto and the play was performed at the Rudolstadt Theater on October 16, 1828 . In the following year the opera was performed at the Theater in der Josefstadt ( Vienna ) under the title Die Stumme oder Untreue und noble Vengeance in the translation (and adaptation) by Margarethe Bernbrunn ( pseudonym Adalbert Prix) .
Performed in Brussels in 1830
The performance of the opera in the La Monnaie / De Munt theater in Brussels on August 25, 1830, on the occasion of the 58th birthday of King Wilhelm I of the Netherlands, had far-reaching consequences. As a result of the resolutions of the Congress of Vienna , Wilhelm ruled over the Catholic, former Habsburg Netherlands . The trigger was the duet Amour sacré de la patrie ("The sacred love of the fatherland"):
| Amour sacré de la patrie, Rends-nous l'audace et la fierté; A mon pays je dois la vie. Il me devra sa liberté. |
Hallowed love for the fatherland, Give us back daring and pride; I owe my life to my country. It will owe its freedom to me. |
The audience was already very excited when Masaniello sang in the third act with an ax in hand: “Run for revenge! The guns, the fire! May our vigilance put an end to our suffering! ”Thereupon the audience rose and shouted“ Aux armes! aux armes! ”(To arms! To arms!).
The unrest after the opera against the unpopular Dutch rule led to the Belgian revolution and finally to the independence of Belgium.
Recent reception history
The opera is performed comparatively rarely today, including in Marseille in 1991 and in Aachen in 2002. Under the direction of GMD Antony Hermus , the premiere of the opera in the original language with German surtitles took place on April 24, 2010 at the Anhaltisches Theater Dessau .
Currently (2013) there are three complete recordings of the opera, including two live recordings from 1979 and 1985, and a studio recording from 1986 under the conductor Thomas Fulton with Alfredo Kraus in the role of Masaniello.
In 2019 the opera was played in Kiel (opera house) under the direction of Stefan Bone. The premiere was on April 27th. The performance took place in French with German surtitles using the critical edition by Peter Kaiser.
literature
- Daniel-François-Esprit Auber: La muette de Portici. Score. Critical edition by Peter Kaiser. Ricordi, Berlin 2011.
- Daniel-François-Esprit Auber: The mute from Portici. Vocal score. Edition Schröder, Markranstädt 1997 (reprint of the Berlin 1900 edition).
- Daniel-François-Esprit Auber: The mute from Portici. New version for the German stage. Reclam, Leipzig 1959, DNB 363297863 .
- Walter Eigenmann: "The mute from Portici". From duet to revolution . In: Glarean Magazine. February 29, 2008.
- Leo Melitz: Guide through the operas. Approximately 200 opera texts according to the content, the chants, the personnel and the change of scenery. New, completely worked through and expanded edition up to the present. Globus-Verlag, Berlin 1914, OCLC 476234453 , pp. 264-166.
- Erich Pätz: For the German premiere in Rudolstadt “Die Stumme von Portici”. In: Rudolstädter Heimathefte. Vol. 40, Issue 11/12, 1984, ISSN 0485-5884 , pp. 267-269.
- Horst Seeger : Opera Lexicon. Heinrichshofens Verlag, Wilhelmshaven 1979, ISBN 3-7959-0271-1 .
- Program of the Kiel Opera House, 2018/2019 season
Web links
- La muette de Portici : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Plot and libretto of La muette de Portici on Opera-Guide landing page due to URL change currently not available