Light cavalry

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Work data
Title: Light cavalry
Original title: Light cavalry
Shape: operetta
Original language: German
Music: Franz von Suppè
Libretto : Karl Costa
Premiere: March 21, 1866
Place of premiere: Carltheater, Vienna
Place and time of the action: Austro-Hungarian small town around 1850
people
  • Bang, mayor
  • Apollonia, his wife
  • Pankraz, local council
  • Eulalia, his wife
  • Whiteling
  • Dorothea, his daughter
  • putty
  • Regina, his daughter
  • Vilma, an orphan
  • Hermann, her lover
  • Janos, sergeant in the hussars
  • Stefan, hussar
  • Carol, hussar
  • Hussars, councilors, people

Light cavalry is an operetta in two acts by the composer Franz von Suppè and librettist Karl Costa . This play was premiered on March 21, 1866 at the Carltheater in Vienna . Today she is only known for her world-famous overture .

introduction

The legend that the operetta, which parody the Austrian military, was banned after the lost war against Prussia in 1867, is just as false as the contrary claim that the operetta can no longer be played because it glorifies the military too much. Hussar life is depicted in a romanticizing way, but not glorified. The Light Cavalry is the first Viennese operetta to introduce the Hungarian element into music long before the “ Gypsy Baron ” (1895, Johann Strauss ).

Hans Bodenstedt reworked the operetta “Leichte Kavallerie” from 1934 . In this version, the action takes place at Rheinfels Castle around 1750 and deals with the question of what can be done if the sovereign spends his money on Maitressen. It is decided to bring in a real cavalry in order to end the sovereign's lottery economy .

action

Act 1 - Marketplace

Vilma is an orphan raised by the community. Now she has become a pretty young woman and turns every man's head. This is a thorn in the side of the wives and they complain to the mayor Bums and the local council of Pankraz about Vilma's dissolute behavior. Bums and Pankraz are secretly in love with Vilma, but at the urging of their jealous wives have to convene a council meeting to resolve Vilma's banishment. The local councils do not come to a conclusion (song “How clever, how clever, we from the G'meind”).

Vilma doesn't care about people's talk because she is in love with Hermann. This idyll is interrupted by the arrival of Hungarian hussars. Under the leadership of their sergeant Janos, they move into quarters with the citizens and especially the female population greets the soldiers with cheers.

Act 2 - Marketplace

Hermann Vilma tries in vain to marry. His guardian, Mayor Bums, refuses to give him his consent, as he still gives himself hope in the young, pretty woman. Disappointed, Hermann wants to join the hussars and therefore talks to Janos. He wants to help Hermann, since he has noticed for himself how it is with the modesty in this place. He wants to play a trick on the inhabitants - women and men - to prove them wrong.

Janos secretly promises Bums and Pankraz to arrange a tête-à-tête with Vilma for them. Instead of Vilma, he lures Eulalia, the wife of Pankraz, to this rendezvous. Eulalia, who is not averse to an affair with Janos, believes she will meet Janos at this meeting point. He arranges it so that Apollonia, the wife of Bums, is nearby and can overhear the whole thing. Coincidentally, at this meeting point in the dark, Carol and Stefan meet with the commoner daughters Dorothea and Regina.

Janos feels sorry for the unhappy lovers, Hermann and Vilma, because he had also experienced something similar. When he was young, he loved Zinka, but because of his poverty he was not allowed to marry her. He had to leave her and had never seen her again. While he thinks about his old love, he thinks of a song that he had always sung with Zinka and that nobody knows anymore. Suddenly, this very song sounds. But it's not Zinka, it's Vilma who sings this sad song. She learned it from her mother in her childhood.

Janos searches for the singer in the dark and finds Vilma. His questions reveal that, to the great surprise, Vilma is his daughter. As great as the joy over the found daughter is, so is his anger over the treatment of Vilma in this city. The prank he came up with will be completed. After all involved have made themselves as ridiculous as possible, Janos forces the mayor to agree to Vilma's wedding with Hermann.

When Bums inevitably gives his blessing, the signal sounds to march off. The hussars gather in the market square and ride on again - happy as they came. The light cavalry has done its job.

Recordings

There is only one radio recording of this work by the ORF from 1968, which was not available for a long time due to copyright reasons. In 2009 the recording, in which u. a. Karl Terkal , Kurt Preger , Laurence Dutoit and Marianne Lozal perform as vocalists alongside the Great Vienna Radio Orchestra under Max Schönherr , published on the Hamburger Archiv für Gesangskunst label. The Overture to the Light Cavalry was performed as the first piece after the break at the New Year's Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic on January 1, 2020, conducted by Andris Nelsons, and recorded in image and sound. This live recording is available on DVD and CD.

Others

Web links

literature

  • Leo Melitz : Guide through the operettas . Globus-Verlag, Berlin 1917, pp. 116–117.
  • Franz von Suppè: Light cavalry . Folk game in three acts by Hans Bodenstedt. New musical version by Horst Platen . Bote & Bock, Berlin 1952.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hamburg Archives for Singing Art: Light Cavalry / Das Pensionat , 2 CD set. Retrieved on January 3, 2020.
  2. ^ The program of the New Year's Concert 2020: Vienna Philharmonic , accessed on January 1, 2020.
  3. ↑ DVD New Year's Concert 2020: Vienna Philharmonic , accessed on January 1, 2020.
  4. ^ Symphony Hour Mickey Mouse, 1942.
  5. ↑ Den Simms, Eric Buxton and Rob Samler: They're Doing the Interview of the Century - Part 1.