News of the day
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | News of the day |
| Shape: | Funny opera in three parts |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Paul Hindemith |
| Libretto : | Marcellus Schiffer |
| Premiere: | June 8, 1929 |
| Place of premiere: | Kroll Opera House Berlin |
| Playing time: | about 2 hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Large German city, 1929 |
| people | |
News of the day is - so the official name - a "funny opera in three parts" (11 pictures) by Paul Hindemith . Marcellus Schiffer wrote the libretto . The first performance was on June 8, 1929 in the Kroll Opera House in Berlin. A second version in two acts premiered on April 7, 1954 under the title Novità del giorno at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.
action
The opera is set in a major German city at the time of its premiere, i.e. in 1929.
Eduard and Laura haven't been married that long, but they still quarrel almost every day. Once again they argued violently and are now making the decision to get a divorce. An unexpected visitor is announced. Mr. and Mrs. M., with whom they have recently become friends, have just returned from their honeymoon. You are now doing everything you can to reconcile the two fighters. Not only does the attempt fail completely, no, they get into an argument themselves, and in the end they want to get a divorce too.
At the registry office, Mr. and Mrs. M. learn that a dispute alone is not enough for a divorce. There must be a more serious reason for divorce. The "Office for Family Affairs GmbH" would be happy to help. - The head of this office is "beautiful Mr. Hermann". For a hefty payment, he mediates reasons for divorce en masse. Thanks to his help, Mr. and Mrs. M. were soon happily divorced.
Now Laura also turns to this ominous agency, and the beautiful Herr Hermann suggests that she meet him at a certain time in the city museum. There the beautiful Herr Hermann pulls out all the stops of his seductive art in order to ensnare Laura with sultry words. The affair is in full swing when suddenly Laura's husband appears. He got wind of the meeting and immediately rushed to the museum. He has now realized that despite all the tensions, he still loves Laura. At the sight of the "reason for divorce" Hermann, jealousy overwhelmed him. Angrily, he grabs a famous Venus figure that is standing near him and hurls it on the ground, where it shatters into a thousand pieces. The police are on the spot and put him in jail.
Laura doesn't want to go back to her married apartment. So she rents a room in the Savoy Hotel. She comfortably takes a warm bath to recover from the excitement. In the meantime, the handsome Herr Hermann has found out her whereabouts and is suddenly with her in the bathroom. He says he actually loves her. Suddenly, Ms. M. appears and claims the bathtub for herself. It makes a lot of noise, which causes the whole hotel to get into an uproar.
The Eduard scandal - meanwhile released from prison - and Laura are growing ever bigger. Six managers have got wind of the matter and are trying to market the scandal through theater, variety shows and films. The couple chats about the most private things in front of a huge audience and earns a lot of money. The longer the two go on like this, the more they realize that they are basically meant for each other after all. Actually, they no longer want to get a divorce; but the public has branded them as a couple who want to be divorced, and they have to be stuck in that drawer for quite a while!
layout
The opera Neues vom Tage can be understood as a parody of an opera. Hindemith, who liked to use provocative elements in his music, uses a wide variety of musical styles. In addition to the arias in the traditional sense with their exaggerated cantilenas, there are also elements of jazz, which was just emerging in Germany at the time. The scene in which Laura sits in the bathtub in the hotel and sings a coloratura aria in praise of the hot water supply shows a particular sense of humor.
Instrumentation
The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:
- Woodwinds : two flutes (also piccolo ), oboe , English horn , clarinet , small clarinet, bass clarinet , alto saxophone , two bassoons , contrabassoon
- Brass : horn , two trumpets , two trombones , bass tuba
- Drums (two players): bass drum , snare drum , tom-tom , cymbal , gong , cymbal , triangle , glockenspiel , xylophone , three electric bells
- Piano , piano four hands
- Harp , mandolin , banjo
- Strings : six violins , four violas , four cellos , four double basses
premiere
In the premiere at the Kroll Opera on June 8, 1929, Grete Stückgold , Rose Pauly , Sabine Kalter , Arthur Cavara , Dezsö Ernster , Fritz Krenn , Erik Wirl , Albert Peters and Heinrich Schultz sang under the direction of Otto Klemperer .
Sound carrier
CD on the WERGO label, order number 286 192-2 - With Elisabeth Werres, Claudio Nicolai, Ronald Pries, Horst Hiestermann, Martina Borst in the leading roles. The choir of the State University of Music in Cologne sang and the WDR Radio Orchestra Cologne played under the direction of Jan Latham-König .
Web links
- News of the day : sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Action of the news of the day at Opera-Guide landing page due to URL change currently not available
- Heike Schumacher: Kitsch, commerce and land registry on the opera stage. Review of the performance at the Aachen Theater on March 25, 2000 in Online Musik Magazin
Individual evidence
- ↑ Annegrit Laubenthal: News from the day. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 3: Works. Henze - Massine. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-492-02413-0 , pp. 70-72.
- ↑ News of the day . In: Large song dictionary . 2000, p. 28526
Murderer, Hope of Women (Opera, 1921) | Das Nusch-Nuschi (Opera, 1921) | Sancta Susanna (opera, 1922) | The demon (dance pantomime, 1922) | Tutti Coats (Christmas Tales , 1922) | Cardillac (Opera, 1926) | There and back (sketch with music, 1927) | News from the day (opera, 1929) | Lehrstück (music theater, 1929) | We're building a city (Children's Opera, 1930) | Mathis the painter (opera, 1938) | Nobilissima visione (dance legend, 1938) | Hérodiade (orchestral recitation, 1944) | The Harmony of the World (Opera, 1957) | The Long Christmas Supper (Opera, 1961)