Sacontala
Sacontala (also used in the spelling Sakontala or Sakuntala ) is an unfinished opera fragment by Franz Schubert , originally laid out in three acts, composed in 1820, D 701, based on a complete textbook by Johann Philipp Neumann based on Kalidasa's work Shakuntala .
history
Schubert began to write the work in October 1820, but broke off the composition in the spring of 1821, presumably because the Vienna Court Opera first played the opera Zemire und Azor by Louis Spohr , to whose subject it was closely related. There are only drafts for the first and second act, eleven scenes of the fragment exist in a score sketch, which for the most part reproduces the basic melody lines of the singing voices and the bass. Only parts of the introduction and the last bars in the finale of the first act are fully orchestrated.
Johann Philipp Neumann, the Sacontala's librettist , drew on the play Abhijnanashakuntala by the Indian poet Kalidasa, who had been popular in Europe since the end of the 18th century, and based himself on the German translation by Georg Forster , which appeared in Vienna in 1800 .
Version Racek
The Austrian composer and musicologist Fritz Racek created a version of Schubert's opera fragment with additions, which was premiered on June 12, 1971 at the Wiener Festwochen by the Romanian State Opera Timișoara under the direction of Cornelia Voina.
Rasmussen version
After the libretto found again in 2001 by Thomas Aigner in the Vienna City and State Library , the order of the music numbers could be clarified. The Danish composer and musicologist Karl Aage Rasmussen then worked on a further performance version by carefully orchestrating and completing Schubert's sketches.
On October 4, 2006, this version had its concert premiere at the Herbstliche Musiktage Bad Urach in the Metzingen town hall. Frieder Bernius conducted the Stuttgart Chamber Choir and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen , and a highly acclaimed recording of this performance was released. Bernius performed the work in the following cast:
- Sacontala (soprano) - Simone Nold
- Duschmanta (tenor) - Donat Havar
- Kanna (bass) - Martin Snell
- Madhawia (bass) - Konrad Jarnot
- Durwasas (bass) - Stephen Loges
Thanks to the recording made here, the Saarland State Theater became aware of the work. The scenic premiere of the version of Schubert's opera fragment completed by Rasmussen took place on March 27, 2010 by the Saarland State Theater in Saarbrücken . The Saarbrücken performance had the following cast:
- Shower manta: Algirdas Drevinskas
- Sacontala: Elizabeth Wiles
- Durwasas / Madhawia: Guido Baehr
- Kanna: Hiroshi Matsui
- Amusina / 1st girl: Sofia Fomina
- Priamwada / 2nd girl: Judith Braun
- Fischer: Stefan Röttig
- Performance artist: Skall
- Menaka: Elena Kochukova
- A demon / 1. Reaver: Timo Päch
- A demon / 2. Reaver: Harald Häusle
- Musical director: Christophe Hellmann
- Production: Berthold Schneider
- Stage design: Veronika Witte
- Costumes: Doey Lüthi
- Choir master: Jaume Miranda
Web links
- Original manuscript in the Vienna City Hall
- Andreas Hauff: Multimedia revue instead of exotic fairy tales: Schubert's “Sakontala” in Saarbrücken
- Schubert's “Sakontala” in Saarbrücken ( memento from April 12, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ), accessed on July 12, 2018
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Information on Schubert Online
- ^ Andreas Hauff: Multimedia revue instead of exotic fairy tales: Schubert's “Sakontala” in Saarbrücken. In: Neue Musikzeitung . April 1, 2010, accessed July 12, 2018 .
- ↑ a b c Otto Erich German: Franz Schubert. Thematic index of his works in chronological order . Bärenreiter, Kassel 1978, ISBN 3-7618-0571-3 , p. 411 ff .
- ↑ a b Data on the versions on netlibrary.net
- ↑ Information from the Vienna Library
- ^ Homepage of the composer
- ^ Announcement about the concert premiere on musicsalesclassical.com
- ^ CD Sacontala in the catalog of the German National Library
- ↑ CD of the month on musicweb-international.com
- ↑ Work data on Sakuntala based on the MGG with discography in Operone