Rübezahl and the bagpiper from Neisse

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Opera dates
Title: Rübezahl and the bagpiper from Neisse
Title page of the libretto

Title page of the libretto

Shape: Fantastic romantic opera in four acts
Original language: German
Music: Hans Sommer
Libretto : Eberhard Koenig
Premiere: April 15, 1904
Place of premiere: Braunschweig Court Theater
Playing time: approx. 2 ½ hours
Place and time of the action: The city of Neisse at the foot of the Giant Mountains , early Middle Ages
people
  • Rübezahl, mostly as a bagpiper Ruprecht Zagel
  • Mr. Buko, Vogt von Neisse
  • Gertrud, his foster child
  • Brigitte, her old maid
  • Servant of Bukos
  • Guardian of the Bailiwick
  • Wido, young painter
  • Bernhard Kraft
  • Otto Kettner, coppersmith
  • Hieronymus Stäblein, scribe
  • mortician undertaker
  • Other citizens of Neisse, people, city servants, defensive men from the Giant Mountains, the dead of the poor sinners cemetery ( choir )

Rübezahl und der Sackpfeifer von Neisse is a fantastic-romantic opera in four acts , Op. 36, by Hans Sommer (music) with a libretto by Eberhard König . The first performance took place on April 15, 1904 in the Hoftheater Braunschweig .

action

In Leo Melitz's guide through the opera from 1906 the content is reproduced as follows:

first act

Widos painter's workshop

Buko rules tyrannically in Neisse . At the head of the citizens who want to liberate the city is the painter Wido. But he loves Gertrude, the bailiff's lovely foster daughter, and his heart is at war with duty. In his distress he calls on the mountain spirit, and Rübezahl approaches him in the robe of a bagpiper, examines him and promises his help, which, however, he decides with a smile for himself, should turn out differently than mortals expect, his magic pipe should take care of that woman and man must dance to the sound of them. "Only those who are real and complete - mock the magic dance."

Second act

Place in front of the town hall

Wido comes to the excited people with the strong mountain people (Rübezahl's creatures). The mountain spirit sits by the side, smoking in a friendly manner and observing what is going on. He mocks Wido and tells him to let the matter run its course, rather to keep calm with his art. But Wido and the citizens begin to storm Buko's house. But when they attack Gertrud who is stepping out, Wido stands protectively in front of her lover. The crowd now wants to turn against him, so Rübezahl picks up his pipe, plays, and everyone is captivated by the magic, dancing they follow the bagpiper, only Wido and Gertrud have remained unaffected by the magic, and Wido now realizes the true intentions of the well-meaning mountain spirit.

Third act

Interior in the city bailiwick

Rübezahl warns Buko in a half joke, half gruesome way, declares Wido for his son and demands Gertrud to be his wife. Buko rages and lets the bagpiper tie up. Rübezahl lets himself be led away with a laugh. When Gertrud comes and declares himself for Wido, Buko casts his foster child. Servants bring the news that the bagpiper is lying dead in the dungeon. Buko then comes up with the plan to burn Wido as a magician and to make the citizens believe that he has freed the city from evil magic arts in order to strengthen his power again.

Fourth act

Moonlight, poor sinners cemetery, behind that the "honest" cemetery

Buko meets Wido at the grave of the buried bagpiper. The fickle crowd has declared itself in favor of the Vogt and wants to burn the painter as a magician. Gertrud begs her foster father in vain, but Rübezahl takes another look at the medication. Buko collapses in front of the dead rising from the graves. The mountain spirit gives the city a new head, the lovers are united, and Rübezahl returns to his mountains.

layout

Like some of the works by Siegfried Wagner , Hans Pfitzner , Engelbert Humperdinck or Richard Strauss' early operas Guntram and Feuersnot, Hans Sommers Rübezahl and the Sackpfeifer von Neisse belong to the type of "conversation operas ". The musicologist Jürgen Schaarwächter remarked that the qualities of the opera are "more in the way the melody of the composition is played than in its harmony" and that Sommer builds on Wagner, but demonstrates "a very special kind of post-romantic 'musical prose'" " which even with Max Reger cannot be found in such a clear form ”. The “epic gesture” builds on Wagner. A special sonic feature are harmonies based on the whole-tone scale, such as the excessive triad, which summer often uses in rows without any intervening chords of resolution.

Work history

Hans Sommer

The world premiere on April 15, 1904 in the Braunschweig Court Theater was a great success. In the following year Richard Strauss, who was friends with Sommer, also successfully managed a production in Berlin. Subsequently, the work fell into oblivion, although Strauss wrote to the conductor Karl Böhm on April 27, 1945, advising that it be performed again. It was only taken back into the program by the stages of the city of Gera in 2016 (musical direction: Laurent Wagner , staging: Kay Kuntze , set design: Duncan Hayler). A recording was broadcast by Deutschlandradio Kultur and published on CD.

Recordings

  • 2016 - Laurent Wagner (conductor), Philharmonic Orchestra Altenburg-Gera, opera choir of Theater & Philharmonie Thuringia.
    Magnus Piontek (Rübezahl), Johannes Beck (Buko), Anne Preuß (Gertrud), Merja Mäkelä (Brigitte), Alexander Voigt (servant Bukos / Stäblein), Xiangnan Yao (guardian), Hans-Georg Priese (Wido), Jueun Jeon ( Bernhard Kraft), Kai Wefer (Kettner / gravedigger / night watchman).
    Live from the concert hall of the stages in Gera.
    PanClassics PC 10367 (3 CDs with libretto).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Leo Melitz (ed.): Guide through the opera. 235 opera texts according to the content, the chants, the personnel and the change of scenery. Globus, Berlin 1906, p. 294 f. ( archive.org ).
  2. ↑ a b c Supplement to the CD PanClassics PC 10367.
  3. ↑ Karl-Josef Kutsch , Leo Riemens : Large singer lexicon (= digital library . Volume 33). Electronic edition of the third, expanded edition. Directmedia, Berlin 2000, p. 28630.
  4. ↑ An unknown opera by Hans Sommer - A giant arranges things on Deutschlandradio Kultur , accessed on April 18, 2017.
  5. ^ Roland H. Dippel: educational misery among mountain spirits. Music theater criticism. In: Die Deutsche Bühne, March 18, 2016, accessed on June 12, 2017.