Fairy tale opera

Karl Friedrich Schinkel : Stage design for Mozart's Magic Flute

A fairy tale opera is an opera whose libretto has clear characteristics of a fairy tale .

history

The fairy tale opera was a popular genre , especially in the German Romantic era . The origin of the fairytale opera, however, lies in the classical period . The Magic Flute by Emanuel Schikaneder and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in particular was a model for many romantics. The core themes of the fairy tale operas include the romantic motifs of nature, longing and redemption. Musically, the fairy tale opera remained committed to classical music for a long time, especially with regard to the form of the number opera . The folk-song melodies in choirs and arias are also typical . The second half of the 19th century was strongly influenced by Richard Wagner and his ideals of musical drama .

Examples

The libretti of many fairy tale operas are based on folk tales or tales. Examples for this are:

• Rübezahl , 1804, libretto by JG Rohde based on a famous folk tale , music by Carl Maria von Weber
• Der Freischütz , 1821, libretto by Johann Friedrich Kind based on a popular horror story, music by Carl Maria von Weber
• Hans Heiling , 1833, libretto by Eduard Devrient based on a folk tale, music by Heinrich Marschner
• The Flying Dutchman , 1842, libretto and music by Richard Wagner based on a folk tale
• Hansel and Gretel , 1893, libretto by Adelheid Wette based on a folk tale , music by Engelbert Humperdinck

Other fairy tale operas are adaptations of art fairy tales or were created for the opera. Examples for this are:

• The Magic Flute , 1791, libretto by Emmanuel Schikaneder, music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Alruna, the owl queen , 1808, music by Louis Spohr
• Undine , 1816, libretto by Friedrich de la Motte-Fouqué , music by ETA Hoffmann
• The Vampire , 1828, libretto by WA Wohlbrück based on the novel by John Polidori , music by Heinrich Marschner
• The Fairies , 1834, music and libretto by Richard Wagner
• Undine , 1845, libretto and music by Albert Lortzing based on Fouqué's libretto
• The woman without a shadow , 1919, libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal , music by Richard Strauss

See also

• Viennese puppet and magic opera

literature

• dtv-atlas music ; Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 2010
• The ABC of opera ; Naxos Verlag, Münster 2003
• Leopold Schmidt: On the history of the fairy tale opera. Halle (Saale): Otto Hendel 1895 (= Diss. University of Rostock 1895). Open Access via ViFaMusik