Pervonte

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Pervonte or The Desires is a story in three parts by Christoph Martin Wieland .

Emergence

The first two parts were created in March and April 1778 and were published in October and November of the same year as well as in January 1779 in the magazine Der Teutsche Merkur published by Wieland . It was not until December 1794 that he revised the text and completed it with the third part, so that the entire work could appear in the 18th volume of the Complete Works in 1796 .

As a source Wieland is the tale peruonto from the Pentamerone to that from his the novel Bibliotheque Universelle in June and September 1777 was known.

action

First part

The King of Salern has a beautiful but aloof daughter named Vastola, who rejects all admirers. At the same time, in the forest near the city, there lives a young guy named Pervonte, who is described as downright stupid, ugly and lazy. He lives with his mother, does nothing but fetch wood from time to time, and has no wishes beyond a full stomach. One day, while fetching brushwood in the forest, he sees three beautiful young women lying in the sun and sleeping. He builds them a roof that gives them shade. They wake up and introduce themselves as fairies who, out of gratitude for his kindness, want to fulfill his every wish. On the way back, Pervonte jokes that he wishes the bundle of sticks could carry him home. The wish is immediately fulfilled: he arrives back in town on a sticks made of sticks and causes a stir. The king's daughter sees him and mocks him. Thereupon he expresses the - again not seriously meant - wish that she might be pregnant with twins of his, then she would not mock him anymore. Months later, Vastola actually gives birth to twin daughters. The whole court is in an uproar, but she swears not to know her father.

Six years later: The king's seneschal believes children have an instinct to recognize their father in everyone. So the entire nobility is invited to a party at which the girls are also present. But they don't recognize anyone as a father. A second ball for the citizens is also unsuccessful. Now the king is holding a big festival. When Pervonte appears there, the girls immediately run towards him. The king is furious and orders his apparently unfaithful daughter, the twins and Pervonte to be abandoned in a large barrel on the sea.

Second part

Vastola recognizes Pervonte as the rider on the bundle of brushwood. He tells her about the fairies of the gift they bestow that all his wishes come true immediately. But he doesn't know whether he still has the gift, since he has never wished for anything: "My mother's pot is never short of soup / And never the pot of wood; what should I have wished for?" In exchange for a kiss from Vastola as a prize, he now wishes that the barrel would turn into a ship and bring her ashore. You arrive in an almost paradisiacal valley, and at Vastola's suggestion he wishes that the ship would now become a magnificent castle with gardens, goods and servants.

Since Vastola realizes that she will spend her life with Pervonte, she demands that he should wish for beauty and understanding from the fairies. But now he demands modesty from Vastola, because nothing is missing anymore.

third part

Despite the perfect happiness, Vastola feels a sense of satiety and boredom after four weeks. Pervonte loves her, and he can't refuse her for a kiss: Since she lacks company, she wishes to travel back to Salern unrecognized to a festival of the king. Then they travel to Naples and on to Venice. Vastola competes with other princesses everywhere in pomp and extravagance, while Pervonte longs for rest. He is happy when they return to their castle, but just a few days later guests invited by Vastola appear who spend the whole summer there: They long for the country life, but are too comfortable and spoiled to expose themselves to nature. So that nobody gets bored, Pervonte, degraded to a "dream machine", must always wish for new pleasures. The wits bestowed by the fairies make him more serious and separate himself more and more from Vastola and her society. She doesn't really love him either, lets herself be seduced by another man and plans a new trip. Since Pervonte is looking for peace and quiet, she wants to travel alone and asks for one last wish: a purse full of gold coins that is never empty. Immediately after their departure, Pervonte wishes that all wishes be undone. The castle disappears and the fairies appear: They praise Pervonte for his wise wish, and grant him with one exception: he can keep his well-used mind. He returns to his mother's hut while the twins return to the realm of the fairies, and Vastola lives again as the virgin king's daughter in Salern. But the fairies get enough reminder that she will always regret the self-inflicted loss of happiness.

Settings

The story has been edited as an opera three times:

Web links

literature

  • Wieland's works in four volumes. Third volume. Selected and introduced by Hans Böhm. Aufbau-Verlag Berlin and Weinar 1967, pp. 103–155.
  • Dieter Arendt: Christoph Martin Wieland's fairy tale 'Pervonte or the wishes' or: An enlightener and didactic as a storyteller. In: Orbis Litterarum 57/2, pp. 81-102.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ German Theater Lexicon. Biographical and bibliographical manual. limited v. Wilhelm Kosch, continued. v. Ingrid Bigler-Marshal. Volume 6: Weisbrod-Wolansky. Saur 2008, p. 3339.