Peer Gynt (Egk)
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| Original title: | Peer Gynt |
| Shape: | Opera in three acts |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Werner Egk |
| Libretto : | Werner Egk |
| Literary source: | Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen |
| Premiere: | November 24, 1938 |
| Place of premiere: | Berlin |
| Playing time: | approx. 2 ¼ hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Norway, Central America, Empire of the Trolls, around 1850 |
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Peer Gynt is an opera in three acts and nine pictures by Werner Egk ( music ) with a libretto by the composer based on the poem of the same name by Henrik Ibsen . The world premiere took place on November 24, 1938 at the Berlin State Opera .
action
foreplay
On a bare hill, Peer Gynt looks at a large black cloud and dreams of taking him on her journey. The Vogt and his wife come by on the way to a wedding reception. They think he's a drunk good-for-nothing. The blacksmith calls out to him that his former lover Ingrid is about to marry the fool Mads. Peer shows no interest in it.
first act
First picture: Hofplatz on Haegstad
While the wedding guests who have already arrived are chatting and dancing, Mads complains that his bride has locked herself in her room. Peer Gynt arrives and looks in vain for a dance partner. Solveig comes with her parents and her sister Klein-Helga and immediately arouses his attention, but she doesn't want to dance with him either, but puts him off until later. But when she walks up to him after a while and learns his name, she turns away, startled. Peer is persuaded to drink by the blacksmith. He boasts of his upcoming great journeys in which he will command a dragon and be greeted by the King of England as Emperor of the world. The bystanders call him a liar. Only Mads believes him and asks him to help him mediate with Ingrid. Just passing by, Solveig refuses to dance with Peer again because she thinks he is drunk. Peer gets angry. He threatens to attack her as a werewolf in her sleep, but apologizes immediately. Finally he decides to go to Ingrid with Mads. The blacksmith wants to follow him with some others to beat him up, but Peer's mother Aase stops them. A thunderstorm is approaching. Mads returns confused and reports that Peer kidnapped Ingrid. All arm themselves with sticks to pursue him. Only Aase stays behind and asks God for protection for her son.
Second picture: A scree slope in the high mountains on a hot midsummer day
The troll king disguised as a tramp - the "old man" - and his sloppily dressed daughter - the "redhead" - sing about transience. The old man has promised his daughter Peer Gynt to be her husband. When Aase and Solveig stop by looking for Peer, the trolls become invisible. Aase talks about Peer's childhood. Even then, he confused his dreams with reality. After they have moved on, Peer and Ingrid appear. Peer has since lost interest in her and pushes her away. Ingrid leaves angrily. The redhead approaches Peer and pulls him out of his thoughts. She piques his interest when she tells him that her father is the "Dovre King," but her ugliness repels him. The scene darkens for a moment and the redhead transforms into a provocatively beautiful woman. A pink carousel pig appears, she gets into the saddle and pulls Peer towards her. The pig slowly sinks into the ground to the troll empire.
Third picture: A primitive room in the Old Mountain with a rough-timbered table.
The old man and the other trolls expect his daughter and Peer, who slowly sink to the ground with the pig. He asks Peer if he would like to marry his daughter. Peer replies that he already owns it, but now also wants to get his kingdom. The trolls laugh about it. Peer joins their ranks and is given a troll tail. He must swear never to do anything other than what suits him. With applause and the singing of the troll anthem, peer receives donkey ears and medals. At the end of the ritual, the peer must do an eye test. Enter the Cow Kitty and the Billy Goat Kid (a masked clown), and Peer has to say what he saw. Because Peer couldn't find anything nice about the performance, the trolls want to express one eye and scratch the other. Only then can he see everything as she does. Peer refuses and declares that he wants to forego the bride and kingdom. The trolls do not accept his refusal and attack him. In his distress, Peer Solveig calls for help. Bells ring and the trolls disappear.
Fourth picture: Forest clearing in the high mountains with a log cabin in midsummer
Peer completes his newly built hut. He wants to keep trolls and other rabble away with a wooden lock. Solveig, having heard his call, appears. She left her family and now wants to stay with him forever. He happily invites her into the house. While he is still trying to get wood for the hearth, the redhead in her original ugly shape steps out of the bushes with an equally ugly boy. She claims this is Peer's son and insists she can stay with him. She also doesn't mind living with Solveig. Peer realizes that he cannot escape her and decides to flee. When Solveig calls for him, he claims that he is still busy in the forest. Solveig looks after him until the sun goes down.
Second act
Fifth picture: the quay of a Central American port city
Fifteen years later, Peer has made money. There is a large paddle steamer with his name on the bow in the harbor. On the terrace of an inn, Peer tells three businesspeople his career: After being washed up on the beach penniless, he realized that it was not pity that ruled the world, only action. The merchants enthusiastically agree. The country's president approaches Peer and tells him that he is not allowed to leave with the thousand boxes of gold on board his ship. Peer gives him a large sum of money, whereupon the president promises to abolish this "apparently outdated" law. Peer continues with his story: ten years ago he started trading Bibles, but then expanded his offerings to include cotton, alcohol and finally weapons. His goal is to become emperor of the world. When he declares that he does not want to use his money to support the Greeks 'struggle for freedom with his money, but rather to support the stronger Turks, he loses the merchants' approval. While Peer goes to the inn for a moment, they go to his ship and continue with the gold. Peer calls on God for vengeance. The ship explodes and sinks. The President returns too late with the news that the gold has been released and that Peer may leave.
Sixth picture: A port tavern in Central America
In the midst of the hustle and bustle, the host serves his guests. He has the features of the old man. A dancer resembles the redhead in her beautiful figure. Some of the guests admire them and get into tangible arguments in which a “negro” knocks down and robs a sailor. He gives his prey to the dancer and is then thrown out by the others. Peer Gynt, who was not interested in what was happening, is left alone with the dancer and the host. When she asks the time, he replies that it is "late, but never too late for love". He claims to have never loved anyone other than her. Before that, there had only been immature childish. The dancer explains that he can only love her as his empress. He himself should not be her emperor, but serve her as a servant and fulfill her every wish. Peer agrees, and the two hug each other. Then Peer takes an instrument and accompanies himself to singing and dancing. The dancer is tired, but asks for some pocket money to say goodbye. Peer gives her all of his money. Because this is not enough, she slaps him in the face and angrily disappears. Again, Peer has a vision: the dancer appears as the tamer of a group of predators, the five members of which are dressed as Arlecchino, Pagliaccio, Gracioso, Hanswurst and clown. A group of can-can dancers initially appear in the background and gradually steal the show from the five men.
Third act
Seventh picture: A burned down forest in Peer's home
Three paths each lead to a black bird, a female figure with rigidly made-up faces and a bird mask. The three birds philosophize about the goal of human life. Peer, who is now forty-five years old, is looking for the way home. One after the other, he walks up to the three birds, each of which explains to him that there is no going on here. They ridicule him for not having achieved the goals he set himself. He could neither fly, nor was he received by the King of England, nor did he rule as emperor. The birds are disappearing. In their place appears a stranger clad in black with a chalky white face. He demands Peer's corpse, because since there is nothing left for him to do, he is dead. Peer objects. He was still at the beginning and now wanted to go to his mother, whom he had left without saying goodbye. The stranger tells him that she is long dead. His farm has already been auctioned and he is officially dead. The stranger advises Peer to think about whether he might have forgotten someone who is still waiting for him. Peer ask him for help and will be led down into the interior of the earth.
Eighth picture: room in the mountain of the old
The old man sits at a long table with the dignitaries and a group of "witnesses" dressed in black. The other trolls are huddled together and do not move. The old man greets the startled peer and promises him that he will be crowned today. The witnesses met to confirm his efficiency. It's Mads, Ingrid, the merchants and his mother Aase. They complain about peer's actions. Only Aase assures that he is not a bad person, although he never stood by her and finally left her without saying goodbye. Peer, appalled, begs her forgiveness. The trolls are happy about their victory. Now he could no longer escape them. Aase objects and asks for a year to find someone who can testify for peers' good deeds. Since the Troll Act actually provides for this possibility, Peer is fired for the time being. However, the trolls are sure they will get it back.
Ninth picture: The forest clearing with Peer's log cabin
Solveig sits singing in front of the hut. She is confident that Peer will return to her and blesses him in her song. Peer and the stranger watch her from a distance. Because Peer cannot understand the words, he asks his companion about them. He twists her words and claims that Solveig would curse him. He advises Peer to get out of this place quickly. Peer is determined to stay with her, however, and take the consequences of his behavior on himself. The unknown disappears. Peer approaches her in anticipation of her anger. However, Solveig welcomes him and assures him that he has been with her all along in her faith, hope and love. With this, peer is released and can rest at home.
Origin and performance history
After Egk's success with his opera Die Zaubergeige in 1935, he received a commission for a new opera from the Berlin State Opera , where he was Kapellmeister from 1936 to 1940. In contrast to the popular theme of the magic violin , he now wanted to use a literary subject. He quickly abandoned his original plan to base this opera on the biblical parable of the prodigal son . An essay by George Bernard Shaw , which he wrote on the occasion of a performance of Edvard Grieg's incidental music for Ibsen's poem Peer Gynt , finally gave him the idea of using this material. However, his libretto is not based on the original text, but on the German translation by Ludwig Passarge . Egk wrote it between January and September 1937. He created the score between November 1, 1937 and September 1, 1938. Even before it was completed, he began rehearsing for the premiere, which took place on November 24, 1938 in the Berlin State Opera. Egk gave a detailed report in the program booklet about the creation of the work and the rehearsals.
The work initially had only moderate success. Even the first performance met with political resistance from the ruling National Socialists. The press accused him of plagiarizing the Threepenny Opera and of using grotesque harmonies and orchestrations in certain passages. This assessment changed, however, after a visit by Adolf Hitler , who personally congratulated Egk. After another production in Frankfurt am Main in 1940, however, the work was again rejected as influenced by " Negro music" and was no longer played during the Third Reich. It was not until 1952 that there were successful performances in Munich, Braunschweig (1953), Berlin (1954), Lübeck (1955) and Krefeld / Mönchengladbach (1959).
In 1981 a studio recording of the opera was made with the Munich Radio Orchestra and the Bavarian Radio Choir under the direction of Heinz Wallberg , which was released on record and later on CD. As vocal soloists u. a. Roland Hermann (Peer Gynt), Norma Sharp (Solveig), Cornelia Wulkopf (Aase), Janet Perry (Ingrid), Heiner Hopfner (Mads), Hans Hopf (The Old One), Peter Lika (President), Kari Lövaas (The Red Haired) and Waldemar Wild (stranger) with.
An internationally acclaimed performance took place in February 1982 at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich under the direction of Wolfgang Sawallisch . In it sang u. a Hermann Becht (Peer Gynt), Lilian Sukis (Solveig), Astrid Varnay (Aase), Marianne Seibel (Ingrid), Ferry Gruber (Mads), Horst Hiestermann (The Old One) and Cheryl Studer (The Red Haired). An audio recording can be found on YouTube .
From 2014 there were performances at the Cottbus State Theater with Andreas Jäpel as Peer Gynt. The 2015 production by the Braunschweig State Theater, directed by Dietrich Hilsdorf and starring Peter Bording in the title role , was nominated in 2016 for the International Opera Award in the category "Rediscovery of the Year". In February 2017 the opera was performed under the musical direction of Leo Hussain in a production by Peter Konwitschny with Bo Skovhus (Peer Gynt) and Maria Bengtsson (Solveig / Die Rothaarige) in the Theater an der Wien .
layout
music
The music of Egks opera contains a wide variety of elements. In addition to lyrical scenes, there are wild dances and oscillating timbres. The orchestral setting is powerful but extremely skillful. Melodic stops and splashes of color create the right atmosphere. The score is composed through, but individual numbers can still be distinguished. The troll hymn is a replica of the Protestant chant. The music of the trolls, the president, the merchants and the birds is modeled on the songs of Kurt Weill .
libretto
For his libretto, Egk tightened the text significantly. He reduced the original number from five acts to three, completely deleted some scenes such as the Cairo episodes and also reduced the number of characters. He moved the scenes with the merchants from Morocco to Central America. The court scene in the eighth picture has no equivalent in the literary original. Ibsen's original thought drama became a simplified plot drama with an emphasis on the conflict between the evil troll world and the good world of Solveig.
The interpretation of the work in the context of National Socialism is controversial. In particular, the question of who Egk meant by the trolls led to different statements. While the circle around Egk themselves took the view that they represented the Nazi rulers, there is also the opposite opinion, that they stand for the so-called "racially inferior" peoples, especially the Jews. In his opera book published in East Berlin in 1981, Peter Czerny even identified the troll empire “easily as the profit-hungry world of capitalism”.
literature
- Günter Hausswald: The new opera book. 2nd Edition. Henschelverlag, Berlin 1953, p. 369 ff.
- Harenberg opera guide. 4th edition. Meyers Lexikonverlag, 2003, ISBN 3-411-76107-5 , p. 229 ff.
- Reclam's opera dictionary. Digital library volume 52. Philipp Reclam jun., 2001, p. 1929 ff.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Harenberg opera guide
- ↑ Werner Egk on his 'Peer Gynt' . Program of the Berlin State Opera on Peer Gynt, November 24, 1938. In: Materialmappe, p. 5 ff.
- ↑ Erik Levi: Peer Gynt. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
- ↑ Werner Egk. In: Andreas Ommer: Directory of all opera complete recordings. Zeno.org , Volume 20, p. 4542.
- ↑ a b c Reclam's Opera Lexicon
- ↑ Germany Tribute to Egk. Opera from August 1982. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
- ↑ Peer Gynt at the Cottbus State Theater ( memento from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on July 21, 2015.
- ↑ Peer Gynt at the Braunschweig State Theater
- ↑ International Opera Awards - Rediscovered Work
- ↑ Peer Gynt. Performance information from the Theater an der Wien , accessed on February 16, 2017.
- ↑ Clemens Risl: WERNER EGK's Peer Gynt in Berlin 1938: Opera and Politics. In: Material folder, p. 23.
- ↑ Clemens Risl: WERNER EGK's Peer Gynt in Berlin 1938: Opera and Politics. In: Material folder, p. 25.
- ^ Peter Czerny : Opera book. Henschelverlag Art and Society, Berlin 1981, p. 364 f.