Pomona (opera)
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Pomona |
| Original title: | Victory of the fertile Pomona |
Title page of the libretto from 1702 |
|
| Shape: | Opera in one act |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Reinhard Keizer |
| Libretto : | Christian Heinrich Postel |
| Premiere: | 1702 |
| Place of premiere: | Hamburg |
| Place and time of the action: | Mythical time |
| people | |
Victory of the fertile Pomona is a baroque - Opera (original title: "Sing-game") in an act and 18 scenes of Reinhard Keizer ( music ) with a libretto by Christian Heinrich Postel . The work was performed for the first time on October 19, 1702 for the birthday of Frederick IV of Denmark in the opera on Gänsemarkt in Hamburg . In 1703 there was a follow-up performance under the title Dispute of the Four Seasons or the Triumphant Autumn .
action
Divine messenger Mercurius invites Jupiter to a competition in which it is to be decided which of the four seasons deserves priority. Flora and the wind god Zephyrus embody spring . Ceres , the goddess of agriculture, represents summer with grain and bread. Unfortunately , as a mortal, her beloved Jasion cannot take part in the competition and has to stay behind. The fruit goddess Pomona and Bacchus argue about which of them can best represent the virtues of autumn, Pomona with her apples or Bacchus with his wine. Finally, Pomona and her husband Vertumnus make their way to the temple. Winter is represented by the blacksmith god Vulcanus and his three servants. Mercurius comments on the discussions. When everyone is gathered at the palace, Jupiter appears too. As a greeting he praises the Danish king Friedrich as the patron god of the north, "who has already become immortal in mortality" and his wife Louise . Then he announces Pomona as the winner of the competition and blesses the royal couple: “Heaven! so let Phœbus Krafft live with FRIEDRICH at all times / That LOUYSE is Pomonen Equal to a thousand fertility. "
Scenes and musical numbers
An open gallery
- Aria (Mercurius): "What makes life lovely" (scene 1)
- Aria (Mercurius): "I'll watch today" (Scene 1)
A beautiful garden with flowers
- Duet (Flora, Zephyrus): "Be welcome, my lust" (scene 2)
- Aria (Zephyrus): "In the fields of your cheeks" (scene 2)
- Aria (Flora): "Whoever loves always thinks for his consolation" (scene 2)
In front a forest, behind it a cornfield
- Aria (Ceres): "Cupid jokes with high dignity" (scene 3)
- Aria (Ceres): "Come beautiful, come love" (scene 3)
- Aria (Jasion): “Goddess, ah! it's too much "(scene 4)
- Duet (Ceres, Jasion): "We'll be in a very short time" (scene 4)
- Aria (Jasion): "You're leaving" (scene 5)
- Dance of the Retinue of Ceres (Scene 5)
A fertile orangery with other fruit trees
- Aria (Bacchus): "You noble juice of the vines" (scene 6)
- Aria (Bacchus): "Whom you fill with your drops" (scene 6)
- Aria (Pomona): "Too much audacity never wins an argument" (scene 7)
- Aria (Pomona): "Childhood is like spring hours" (scene 7)
- Duet (Bachus, Pomona): "Meanwhile I hope to win" (scene 7)
- Aria (Pomona): "Boast heaven of a thousand pleasures" (scene 8)
- Aria (Pomona): "I'm coming, I'll be back" (scene 8)
- Dance of the Pomona Retinue (scene 8)
- Aria (Vertumnus): "You are calling I'm coming" (Scene 9)
- Aria (Vertumnus): "Return the most beautiful limbs" (scene 9)
- Duet (Pomona, Vertumnus): "Finally, finally I find you" (scene 10)
- Aria (Pomona): "Victory is mine" (scene 10)
A rough area with snow-covered hills with an anvil in the middle
- Aria (Vulcanus): "When everything is snowed" (scene 11)
- Aria (Vulcanus): "Fan the coals" (scene 11)
- Dance of the servants of Vulcanus (scene 11)
Magnificent vestibule in Jupiter's heavenly palace
- Aria (Mercurius): "A wooer carries a beautiful yoke" (scene 12)
- Aria (Bacchus): "Who wants to live happily" (scene 13)
- Aria (Ceres): "Let your Goddess Preiss" (scene 14)
- Aria (Vulcanus): "Should I tire" (scene 15)
- Aria (Zephyrus): "Just hope!" (Scene 16)
- Dance of the Entourage of Flora (Scene 16)
- Aria (Pomona): "Give way to their fleeting blooming servants" (scene 17)
- Trio (Pomona, Flora, Ceres): "My hope does not waver" (scene 17)
- Aria (Mercurius): "Should I take one here" (Scene 17)
- Aria (Flora): "Solten lovely spring children" (scene 17)
- Aria (Flora): "You are alone" (scene 17)
In the background the magnificent palace of Jupiter becomes visible
- All: "Come, great Lord of Heaven" (Scene 18)
- Quartet (Flora, Ceres, Pomona, Vertumnus): "Welcome noble day!" (Scene 18)
- Everyone: "Who will then achieve fame" (Scene 18)
- Flora / Pom., Vert./Cer., Zeph / Bac., Vert./Vulc: "Let it make them happy" (scene 18)
- Aria (Pomona): "Greens and blossoms in the sea blessing" (scene 18)
- All: "Should Pomona be fertile" (scene 18)
Work history
Victory of the fertile Pomona was created in Hamburg in 1702 after an order from the Danish resident Hans Statius von Hagedorn. The occasion was the birthday party of the Danish King Frederick IV , which should also be honored in Hamburg. It was customary there at the time to celebrate such external occasions by performing operas that were commissioned and paid for by the respective residents. The first performance took place on October 19, 1702 in the opera on Gänsemarkt . In 1703 there was another performance under the title Quarrel of the four seasons or the victorious autumn , in which the first scene was deleted.
With this opera, Keiser's collaboration with the librettist Christian Heinrich Postel , who had written exclusively for him since 1697, ended. In the following years Keizer dedicated three more operas to the Danish royal family.
More recently, the work was performed in 1996 at the Komische Oper Berlin and in the Evangelical Church of St. Georg in Weißenfels by the Capella Orlandi under the direction of Thomas Ihlenfeldt . Mona Spägele sang the main role of Pomona . It was the ensemble's first scenic production. Another performance under the title The Dispute of the Four Seasons took place in Steinfurt in 2004.
In 2014 a CD with the Capella Orlandi under Thomas Ihlenfeldt was released. The singers were Melanie Hirsch (soprano), Olivia Vermeulen (mezzo-soprano), Doerthe Maria Sandmann (soprano), Magdalene Harer (soprano), Julian Podger (tenor), Knut Schoch (tenor), Jan Kobow (tenor), Raimonds Spogis (bass ) and Jörg Gottschick (baritone).
Web links
- Victory of the Fertile Pomona : Sheet Music and Audio Files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Libretto from 1702 and libretto from 1703 as a digitized version in the “Directory of 18th Century Prints in the German-speaking Area” in the German Digital Library .
- Performance history in operabaroque (French), accessed August 18, 2014.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Thomas Ihlenfeld: Supplement to the CD Pomona .
- ↑ Press text of the CD publication Pomona from 2014 on jpc.de, accessed on August 18, 2014.
- ^ Concerts in honor of Reinhard Keiser on the website of the Reinhard Keizer Association, accessed on August 18, 2014.
- ↑ Triumph on a barren stage - report on the performance of the Komische Oper Berlin in the Berliner Zeitung on October 23, 1996, accessed on August 18, 2014.
- ↑ Website of the music festival Unerhörtes Mitteldeutschland , accessed on August 18, 2014.
- ↑ Flyer of the Steinfurter Promenadenfestspiele (PDF), accessed on August 18, 2014.
- ↑ Discography on NewOlde.com , accessed on August 18, 2014.