Moppel's adventure

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Data
Title: Moppel's adventure
Original title: Moppels adventures in the district under the Vienna Woods in New Zealand and Morocco
Genus: Posse in two lifts
Original language: German
Author: Johann Nestroy
Music: Adolf Müller senior
Publishing year: 1837
Premiere: May 5, 1837
Place of premiere: Theater an der Wien
Place and time of the action: The action takes place partly in Europe, partly in Australia, partly in Africa
people
  • Lord Steolequeastle
  • Moppel , his servant
  • Cockchafer , a rich farmer in Lower Austria
  • Peppi , his ward
  • Fire , village judge
  • Badger , night watchman
  • Müller , lordly administrator
  • Blue , clerk at the lock
  • Stick, bellows , farmers
  • Bölzer , a farmer from Upper Austria
  • Xura , chief in New Zealand
  • Erilla , his daughter
  • Ralock, Mannar , leader of the New Zealand warriors
  • the wise Rupumbo
  • Ramram , governor of Tarindet in the Moroccan Empire
  • Zetulbe , his first favorite
  • Hermione , their slave, a European
  • Halib , leader of the guard
  • Kurdan , gardener in Ramrams Pallaste
  • William
  • a landlord, a farmer
  • two mutes
  • Peasants, New Zealand savages, Moroccan greats, corsairs, slaves, slave women, soldiers, people

Moppel's adventure in the district under the Vienna Woods in New Zealand and Morocco is a farce in two acts by Johann Nestroy . The play was written in 1837 and premiered on May 5th of this year in the Theater an der Wien .

content

Maikäfer forbids the village boys to continue pounding on his ward Peppi, which he doesn't like at all.

“I am a woman, consequently vain, and vanity needs nourishment as good as any other passion, so Herr God grant my vanity the bad nourishment with which it has to be content, because nothing better can be found in these ravines . " (Actus I, 3rd scene)

When Lord Steolequeastle and his servant Moppel arrive, Peppi first thinks they are robbers. That clears up quickly, Moppel and Peppi find a liking for each other, but the lord suddenly decides to travel the Pacific . Peppi promises Moppel to wait for him.

The ship of the two fails on a cliff, the lord seems to have drowned, Moppel is washed up on the New Zealand coast and chosen by the wise Rupumbo as a sacrifice for the gods. Although Erilla stands up for him at a festival - here two savages (the two acrobats) show their skills - his fate seems sealed when Chief Xura's village is attacked by corsairs who kidnap Moppel and the two acrobats.

Moppel was sold to Morocco and became a slave to Ramram. He decides to escape slavery with his two mute companions (the acrobats).

"The matter is decided unanimously, because I am the only one who has a voice." (Actus II, 3rd scene)

The passion that Zetulbe has for him helps him, and the two European slaves William and Hermione want to flee with them. Unsuspecting, Zetulbe leaves them the key to a side gate, they escape on a ship and the Moroccans pursue them in vain.

A church day is being held in the home village , which the new squire Lord Steolequeastle is giving. He didn't drown a year ago and is celebrating the anniversary of his rescue. William, who married Hermione, turns out to be the Lord's son, Moppel has also returned as savior. He meets Peppi, who has been waiting loyally for him:

"Come to my heart, you rare creature!" (Actus II, 23rd scene)

Everyone is invited to an artist performance at the castle and the game ends with tricks performed by the two “mutes”.

Factory history

Johann Nestroy wrote this piece as a commissioned work in order to offer the two English acrobats and animal imitators W. Lawrence and P. Redisha a stage-appropriate setting for their tricks. In the first act they are disguised as New Zealand savages, in the finale of the second act as the "mutes". The two performed in 1838 and 1839 in Paris' Cirque-Olympe with great success. For Director Carl Carl , they were the main attraction of the performances, as the prominent mention on the theater bill clearly showed. Nestroy had the task of composing suitable trappings, for which he used some of his earlier ideas. An original manuscript has not been found for the work, but there are four almost exactly identical theater manuscripts and a score.

A source for the work cannot be determined directly, but it uses set pieces from the tradition of the old Viennese folk theater . For the Morocco scenery, Franz H. Mautner points to echoes of Mozart's “ The Abduction from the Seraglio ” . Otto Rommel sees Bäuerle's magic game “Vienna, Paris, London and Constantinople” as a possible model, since Nestroy appeared in it in Brno in 1826 .

Most contemporary reviews dealt with the performance of the two acrobats - they have been compared with the then famous artist Eduard Klischnigg , for whom Nestroy had written " The Monkey and the Bridegroom " in 1836 . Also Wenzel Scholz was praised for his performance, the piece itself rather casually, mostly, was reviewed as insignificant. The May 10 humorist read:

"With the best will in the world, nothing worthy of praise can be said about this latest product from Nestroy's muse."

Initially, Johann Nestroy himself did not play in “Moppels Abenteuer” , he was on tour in Pest und Ofen all May ; Wenzel Scholz gave the Moppel, Franz Gämmerler gave William, Friedrich Hopp gave the cockchafer, Ignaz Stahl gave Ramram, Eleonore Condorussi gave Erilla and Nestroy's partner Marie Weiler gave Hermine. Nestroy von Scholz only took over the role of Moppel on June 5th. The Wanderer wrote about this on June 7th:

"Although the latter was generally much more amusing and raised certain moments extraordinarily with its comical pathos, Nestroy was again a sufficient substitute for his classic phlegm, for the extremely laugh-inducing recitation of certain words."

In 1844 the play was used again in the Leopoldstadt Theater with Nestroy in the lead role, namely as a framework for the appearance of a real trained giraffe.

literature

  • Helmut Ahrens : I'm not auctioning myself off to the laurel. Johann Nestroy, his life. Societäts-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1982, ISBN 3-7973-0389-0 ; P. 193.
  • Fritz Brukner / Otto Rommel : Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. Historical-critical complete edition in fifteen volumes, ninth volume, Verlag von Anton Schroll & Co, Vienna 1927, pp. 367–434, 614–626.
  • W. Edgar Yates (Ed.): Johann Nestroy; Pieces 12. In: Jürgen Hein / Johann Hüttner : Johann Nestroy, Complete Works, Historical-Critical Edition. Jugend und Volk, Vienna / Munich 1982, ISBN 3-7141-6964-4 ; Pp. 83-135, 177-215.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ District under the Vienna Woods = Lower Austria is divided into the quarters above and below the Vienna Woods (south of the Danube ) and the quarters above and below the Manhartsberg (north of the Danube)
  2. ↑ Steolequeastle is an anglicized play on words with the Viennese quastel = tassel
  3. ↑ also Rumpumbo
  4. ^ W. Edgar Yates: Johann Nestroy; Pieces 12. p. 89.
  5. ^ W. Edgar Yates: Johann Nestroy; Pieces 12. p. 115.
  6. ^ W. Edgar Yates: Johann Nestroy; Pieces 12. p. 134.
  7. ^ Théophile Gautier : Histoire de l'art dramatique en France depuis vingt-cinq ans. Volume 1, Edition Hetzel Librairie Magnin 1859; Pp. 154-155. [1]
  8. ↑ 1. in the manuscript collection of the Vienna Library in the City Hall , IN 142.407; 2-4 in the theater collection of the Austrian National Library Schw 12
  9. ↑ Music collection of the Vienna Library in the City Hall, MH 710
  10. ↑ Der Humorist, magazine for jokes and seriousness, art, theater, sociability and custom , editor Moritz Gottlieb Saphir from 1837 to 1862.
  11. ^ W. Edgar Yates: Johann Nestroy; Pieces 12. p. 187.
  12. ^ W. Edgar Yates: Johann Nestroy; Pieces 12. p. 193.