Prince Methuselah
Prince Methuselah is a comic operetta in three acts by Johann Strauss (son) (1825–1899). Book by Victor Wilder and Alfred Delacour , edited by Karl Treumann . First performance on January 3, 1877 in the Carltheater in Vienna .
Performance history
Johann Strauss originally designed his Prince Methuselah deliberately for the Paris stage. After the second version of his operetta Indigo and the Forty Robbers was performed with great success in Paris in 1875 and a French version of the bat was already in preparation, he hoped for a premiere in the French metropolis for the first time. However, no contract was concluded, so that this operetta finally had its world premiere on January 3, 1877 in the Carltheater in Vienna . The composer was also the conductor at the premiere. The Wiener Neue Freie Presse remarks seven days after the premiere that Strauss' latest operetta is likely to "achieve significant success everywhere", "perhaps most of all in Paris, because Strauss apparently had French tastes in mind during this work (...) some of the prettiest pieces of music ( ...) with luck approach the style of the French Opéra comique. "
Johann Strauss consciously takes the structure of Jacques Offenbach's works as a model for Prince Methuselah . Dramaturgical and textual parallels between this work and the Grand Duchess von Gerolstein, which premiered ten years earlier, cannot be overlooked.
In order to meet the tastes of the French public in terms of the text, a French comedy by Jérôme Albert Victor van Wilder, who was also responsible for the French adaptation of Indigo , and Delacour were to serve as the libretto for Prince Methuselah . With the premiere in Paris in mind, Strauss began by setting the original French text to music. When the plans for a world premiere in the Seine metropolis did not materialize, however, he had Matthias Karl Ludwig Treumann's libretto set up for Vienna in German. Treumann was an outspoken expert on the Parisian theater scene and was instrumental in bringing Jacques Offenbach from the Seine to the Danube. In his long career he not only emerged as an actor and theater director, but also as a translator and editor of numerous Offenbach operettas, which he adapted to the local Viennese color and thus contributed significantly to their success in the Danube metropolis.
So it's no wonder that he met the satirical-ironic style that was admired in Paris in the so successful Offenbachiads in his libretto on Methuselah . This was recognized by contemporary critics, especially in connection with the "superbly devised" texts on individual couplets. The couplet by King Sigismund Das Tipferl on the I and Methusalems Generalslied from the third act of the operetta was particularly successful , so that, according to a report in the Neue Freie Presse on January 4, 1877, the audience “rushed to Treumann “Called. However, due to its French origins, the entire textbook met with little approval from the critics at a time of increasing prejudice against its neighbors after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71. For Treumann, who died in the year of the premiere, the libretto for Prince Methuselah was to be the last theatrical work.
Although panned by the press, the basic situation of the libretto is a state and revolutionary satire that is still valid today, as we know it from the early Shakespeare comedies or Georg Büchner's Leonce and Lena , the atmosphere of which is unmistakably reflected in Treumann's textbook.
The first performance of this Offenbachiade was considered a great success for Johann Strauss, whom Eduard Hanslick called the “irresistible 'Pied Piper' of Vienna” on the occasion of the first performance and whose “graceful, lively music” he praised in the Neue Freie Presse. The satirical magazine Die Bombe remarked a few days after the premiere of Strauss' music: “'Prinz Methuselah' does indeed have a wealth of so-called musical jokes ... Incidentally, the final waltz has such a ravishing effect that even the the harshest critics through the wrinkled nose. "
After the first performance, Prince Methuselah had 89 performances in the Carltheater until September 1881 . In addition, the work quickly spread across the world: the work was successfully seen in Berlin in 1878, then in New York in 1880 and finally in London and Melbourne in 1883. Most of the time, the book was reworked for these productions. The legitimation for these interventions came from the composer himself: Even after the premiere, Johann Strauss encouraged his performers to “redesign the piece” in view of the critically received book. The Viennese singers were only too happy to comply with this invitation to improvise, as a press report on the occasion of the 25th performance shows.
And Strauss also wanted to continue working intensively on his Methuselah : just a few days after the premiere in Vienna, he left for Paris. He had had the score of his latest operetta forwarded to him so that Wilder and Delacour could write a new book for his music. But this project also failed.
Encouraged by this struggle for a final book for the successfully recorded music of Prince Methuselah , the Dresden State Operetta based the critical edition published in the Wiener Neue Johann Strauss Edition especially for the Dresden revivals, an original book by the Berlin cabaret artist and author Peter To have Ensikat carefully edited and updated. On April 23, 2010, the Dresden State Operetta saw a modern staged revival in the staging of Adriana Altaras and under the musical direction of Ernst Theis .
content
The operetta is set in Italy and is about conflicts over the throne and revolutions. Prince Methuselah of Rikarak is supposed to marry Prince Sigismund of Trocadero's daughter Pulcinella for political reasons. The clashes between the two countries are to be ended. After the wedding of the two lovers, however, the court receives the news, Duke Cyprian, that the prince's father no longer has any power over his country due to a rebellion. Sigismund and Pulcinella leave the party, but Methuselah comes to his newly wedded wife's bedroom at night and stays.
The rebels offer Prince Sigismund power over Rikarak, which he accepts. In the meantime, however, Duke Cyprian was able to regain power. War threatens again. With a ruse by Pulcinella, Prince Methuselah is appointed Field Marshal by a forged letter order. He does not think of war and instead arranges a festival of reconciliation.
Music numbers
The musical numbers quickly gained popularity and so the polka Das Tipferl auf dem i , the generalslied and O beautiful May of love are still sung today, mainly because Strauss included them in the waltz series O beautiful May! op. 375 built in. The score contains the following musical numbers:
No. 1 Introduction and choir: Cheers, the young couple
No. 2 choir and song: The money all alone .... I once wanted to be a child prodigy
No. 3 song: Oh dad, the beautiful clothes
No. 4 Choir, Ensemble and Couplets: The whole court is gathering .... Thank you very much .... My father gave me strict orders yesterday
No. 5 Duet: For the first time with you alone
No. 6 Ensemble: Your dear revelers
No. 7 Finale I.
No. 8 chorus: Taxpayers, your money
No. 9 Quintet: I always wanted ...
No. 10 Duet: Linger on a beautiful night
# 11 Romance: How Should I Resist It
No. 12 Couplet: The cup on the i
No. 13 Finale II Revolution in the Country
No. 14 Soldiers' Choir: Soldiers commit heroic deeds
No. 15 couplet and choir: the artist who loves freedom
No. 16 Duet: People Hear the Sensational Story
No. 17 Duet and Choir: The will of the people should be done
No. 18 General song: I'll be a general
No. 19 Waltz duet: O you my beam of joy
No. 20 Finale III High Cyprian
Musical re-use
Independent works by the composer were then created based on motifs from this operetta, which are marked in his catalog raisonné with the opus numbers 375 to 379. These are the following works:
O beautiful May! , Waltz, Opus 375
Methuselah Quadrille , Opus 376
I-Tipferl-Polka , Polka francaise, Opus 377
Bandit Gallop , Fast Polka, Opus 378
Warrior's Love , Polka Mazurka, Opus 379
Sound carrier
- Prince Methuselah , recording of the Dresden State Operetta with Frank Ernst, Jessica Glatte , Herbert Adami, a. v. a. The choir and orchestra of the Dresden State Operetta under the direction of Ernst Theis sang and played . The CD was released in 2012 by the CPO label.
Web links
- Work information on klassika.info , accessed on December 11, 2014.
- Prince Methuselah at the Dresden State Operetta , accessed on December 11, 2014.
- Prince Methuselah piano reduction
Individual evidence
- ↑ Prince Methuselah at KulturPur ( Memento from September 4, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ).