Robert the Teuxel
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| Title: | Robert the Teuxel |
| Genus: | parodying magical farce in two acts |
| Original language: | German |
| Author: | Johann Nestroy |
| Literary source: | “ Robert le diable ” by Giacomo Meyerbeer |
| Music: | Adolf Müller senior |
| Publishing year: | 1833 |
| Premiere: | October 9, 1833 |
| Place of premiere: | Theater an der Wien |
| Place and time of the action: | The action takes place in the vicinity of Vienna and falls into the modern age |
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Robert the Teuxel is a parodying magical farce in two acts by Johann Nestroy . The play was written in 1833 and premiered on October 9 of this year in the Theater an der Wien .
content
Robert drinks and plays with the rifle club in the Gasthof zur Teufelsmühl. He tries his luck with the cards and in the skittles (bowling game), but the infernal Bertram, who wants to throw him into misfortune, always turns everything so that he loses. Robert is Isabella's bridegroom, whose father, Mr. von Goldfisch, doesn't want to have anything to do with it until Robert has improved and become solid. This is indignant:
- By the way, what should I allow myself to be mastered by him? Who is this goldfish? I want to show him if I only had as much money as he does. (II. Act, 9 th Scene)
Isabella is still sticking to Robert, but Bertram seduces him to try his luck with the golden magic pipe ( tap ) from Gumpoldskirchen. He wins it and as a “reward” Bertram wants to drag him to hell with him, which Reimboderl and Liserl can just prevent. Robert regrets his dissolute life and gets Isabella as his wife.
In a subplot, the simple-minded Reimboderl is very worried about the loyalty of his Liserl, but lets everyone fool himself. The resolute Lieserl, however, fends off both Robert's advances and Bertram's stormy attempts. He is amazed at his feelings:
- It doesn't fit my class, I have an underground job and I - I blush when I say it - (Naively and shamefully stepping forward.) I'm in love. In the Liserl, on honor. (II. Act, 6 th Scene)
Here, too, Bertram flashes and finally has to admit defeat all along the line - a severe punishment awaits him in the underworld for his failure.
Factory history
In 1833 Johann Nestroy wrote a parody of the romantic drama "Robert the Devil" by Ernst Raupach . However, since Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera “ Robert le diable ” had great success in Vienna before the performance of this piece in the same year , director Carl Carl wanted to hang out there. He therefore asked Nestroy to first parody this opera under the title "Robert the Teuxel" . The Raupach parody, originally planned under the same name, was therefore left behind for the time being and was only premiered in 1834 under the new title " The Magician Sulfurelectrimagneticophosphoratus " .
Meyerbeer's opera was the sensation of the Paris opera season of 1832. In Vienna it was first performed on June 20, 1833 in the Theater in der Josefstadt and on October 8 of this year in the Theater am Kärntnertor . Both performances had a sensational success despite the weaknesses in the tangled plot.
Meyerbeer's work was satirized even before Nestroy's adaptation in the summer of 1833, namely by "Robert der Wauwau" by Johann Schickh with the music by Andreas Scutta in the Leopoldstädter Theater , a weak piece that was therefore not a success, but had 14 performances . Carl saw himself confirmed in his efforts to quickly bring a powerful counterpart onto the stage of the Theater an der Wien. Although “Robert le diable” was considered an extremely successful composition by Viennese music lovers, the libretto by Messrs. Germain de la Vigne and Eugène Scribe was at best pathetic-sentimental dozen items. Nestroy very quickly saw through the superficial text and the gimmicky staging, all made for a malicious parody.
He moved the plot to the bourgeois scene in the south of Vienna, the main heroes become dissolute rags, the knights into a shooting society, Isabella into a wealthy landowner's daughter, the gloomy dice game into an inn bowling game. Bertram is the commissionair of an evil magician (the censors forbade any mention of the devil), the courtly nuns become waitresses with the head waitress Lenerl, who bounces the guests. The army camp in Sicily becomes the inn at Teufelsmühl (in Siebenhirten ) and the spinner on the cross (in today's Vienna-Favoriten ), the tomb of Rosalie in the monastery ruins becomes a Gumpoldskirchen wine cellar.
For this work, Nestroy used parts of his own unrecorded magic posse “ Genius, Schuster und Marqueur ” from 1832, especially the inn scenes. The music with an overture and 32 musical numbers was so complex to compose that Adolf Müller noted on the last sheet of his score: “Fine Deo gratias” (Thank God, done).
At the world premiere, Johann Nestroy played Bertram, Carl Carl Robert, Wenzel Scholz the Reimboderl, alternating Friedrich Hopp and Ignaz Stahl the Nagelberger, Elise Zöllner the farmer Liserl, Nestroy's partner Marie Weiler the Isabella.
Contemporary reception
Audience reactions and criticism were - especially at the beginning - rather mixed, later more positive assessments prevailed. The theater critic Franz Wiest, who opposed Nestroy, wrote a very malicious review in the collector , in which he described "Robert the Wauwau" as the far better work. Even Gustav Pabst, the editor of the collector , found this so inaccurate that a short time later he published a reply in his own paper:
- “Nestroy's comic muse once again developed a wealth of original ideas, a treasure trove of humor and mood, which was mainly evident in the vocal pieces […] Carl (Robert), Scholz (Reimboderl) and Nestroy (Bertram) kept their laugh muscles in constant motion. Nestroy was particularly original. The Dlles. Customs officers and hamlets received a lot of applause. "
The Nestroy mostly benevolent Viennese theater newspaper by Adolf Bäuerle wrote on October 12th:
- “The business of giving lectures on stage events is neither pleasant nor grateful; if a novelty appears from which the director and audience have great expectations, the unfortunate speaker often comes into collision with one of the parties or with himself. [...] the public, on the other hand, demands truth from the critic and has the right to demand it, because the critic exists only through his support and for his sake. "
The very detailed reception is ambivalent in its assessment, Nestroy's wit is emphasized, but criticized as too thin for the subject. The decoration was highly praised, the music was not found to be good, Scholz was praised for his playing, and the other actors attested to their efforts.
Later interpretations
Otto Rommel places the work in the category of those parodies “that use the magical apparatus” (quote). He also counted the magician Sulfurelectrimagneticophosphoratus , the soulful Kerckermeister , Zampa the day thief and Nagerl and glove .
According to Brukner / Rommel it was a competition - also fueled by parts of the press - between Theater an der Wien and Theater in der Leopoldstadt, whereby Director Carl would have been in the lead thanks to his particularly splendid furnishings. Nevertheless, the reaction of the audience would have been mixed, especially at the beginning, which was also due to the overly high expectations due to Carl's advertising and the previous success of the Lumpazivagabundus . After these initial difficulties, the piece remained a success as long as Nestroy played the Bertram.
literature
- Helmut Ahrens : I'm not auctioning myself off to the laurel. Johann Nestroy, his life. Societäts-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1982, ISBN 3-7973-0389-0 .
- Fritz Brukner / Otto Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. Historical-critical complete edition, third volume, Verlag von Anton Schroll & Co., Vienna 1925; Pp. 263-328, 494-536.
- Friedrich Walla (Ed.): Johann Nestroy; Pieces 6. In: Jürgen Hein / Johann Hüttner : Johann Nestroy, Complete Works, Historical-Critical Edition. Jugend und Volk, Vienna / Munich 1985, ISBN 3-7141-6965-2 ; Pp. 75-148, 247-360.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Commissionair = a person charged with arranging a business [1]
- ^ Friedrich Walla (Ed.): Johann Nestroy; Pieces 6. p. 106.
- ^ Friedrich Walla (Ed.): Johann Nestroy; Pieces 6. p. 102.
- ↑ Helmut Ahrens: I am not auctioning myself off to the laurel. Pp. 135-137.
- ↑ see Karl Friedrich Hensler : The Devil's Mill on Wienerberg (1799)
- ↑ The public executions took place at the spinner on the cross until 1806
- ↑ Nestroy's handwriting in the manuscript collection of the Vienna Library in the City Hall , IN 33.324
- ↑ Score in the music collection of the Austrian National Library , sheet 158 r
- ^ The collector of October 31, 1833; P. 523/24.
- ↑ Dlle. , Plural Dlles. is the abbreviation for Demoiselle (s) (= Fräulein), the name that was customary at the time for the unmarried women of an ensemble; the married actresses were titled Mad. ( Madame )
- ^ Friedrich Walla (Ed.): Johann Nestroy; Pieces 6. p. 293.
- ^ Brukner / Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. Pp. 521-524.
- ^ Otto Rommel: Nestroy's works, selection in two parts, Golden Classics Library, German publishing house Bong & Co., Berlin / Leipzig / Vienna / Stuttgart 1908, pp. XXVI, XXX.
- ^ Brukner / Rommel: Johann Nestroy, Complete Works. Pp. 520-521.