Schneider Wibbel (Opera)
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| Title: | Tailor Wibbel |
| Shape: | Singspiel |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Mark Lothar |
| Libretto : | Hans Müller-Schlösser |
| Literary source: | Tailor Wibbel |
| Premiere: | May 12, 1938 |
| Place of premiere: | Berlin |
| Place and time of the action: | City on the Rhine 1813 |
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Schneider Wibbel is a cheerful opera in four acts by Mark Lothar . The libretto comes from Hans Müller-Schlösser and is based on his own comedy of the same name , which in turn is supposed to be based on a true story that happened in Berlin. In this city the opera was premiered on May 12, 1938 at the State Opera Unter den Linden .
orchestra
Two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, a kettledrum, a percussion and strings. A flute, two trumpets, two horns and two trombones are provided as stage music. The orchestra can also take on their task.
action
place and time
In contrast to the historical story, the opera takes place in an old town on the Rhine in 1813, when Napoleon's troops occupied the Rhineland.
Acts 1 to 4
The fact that the French have been occupying the Rhineland for a long time has long been a thorn in the side of master tailor Anton Wibbel. When he has one day looked again a little too much to drink, he incites the Bänkelsängerin Hopp Majänn on to recite a satirical song on the top employer of the occupiers. Someone who is not well disposed to him whistles on him in the French camp, with the result that Wibbel is sentenced to four weeks in prison for insulting majesty . What hurts the master tailor most is that some good business will slip through his fingers while he is in custody. He therefore consults with his wife Fin on how best to avoid shame and shame. In doing so, the two of them come up with the idea of giving someone else a jail for a small gift of money and sending him to jail instead.
Zimpel, Wibbel's second journeyman , can use a little extra money and therefore does not have to be persuaded to serve his master's sentence for long. So that the neighbors shouldn't recognize the fraud, a solid theater is played for them in which Zimpel is loudly chased out of the workshop by his master.
While the journeyman languishes in the dungeon as a supposed tailor Wibbel, his master enjoys life at home to the fullest. From his well-behaved marital half he can read every wish in his eyes. But the idyll does not last long. After just a few days, a policeman stood in the doorway and taught Fin Wibbel that her husband had unfortunately blessed the time during his detention. You should see to it that the body is picked up soon.
Again the couple ponders how best to cope with the messy situation. Then the clever Finchen comes to light: Anton Wibbel shaves off his goatee, gives himself a new hairstyle, slips into a dude's clothes, and he has a new identity. As a friend of the Wibbel family, he now accompanies the "widow" to his own funeral. He is really proud of his Fin when he sees how sadly she accepts the condolences.
The neighbors are whispering to each other and wonder that Fin Wibbel daily visit from a dashing cavalier receives, and this even so soon after the death of her husband. Is she about to marry again? The journeyman Mölfes is particularly annoyed about these visits, since he had already figured out chances of being able to inherit his master. Because of the much older but financially strong widow, he would even renounce a marriage to his fiancée Mariechen Ullenbroich.
When the Wibbel couple, once again in a celebratory mood, gave a little too much alcohol, the Rhine wine loosens the master tailor's tongue. He reveals the secret of the death of his second journeyman. But Finchen does not appear to be pleased about this; but their attempt to pass Anton Wibbel off as his brother Jean-Baptist is ultimately doomed to failure. Nobody believes this absurd story.
Then the news arrives that Napoleon had been crushed in the Battle of Leipzig . All Rhinelander begin to breathe again; because the end of the occupation is within reach. Now Anton Wibbel can confess with a clear conscience how he led the unloved French by the nose. In the end he is even celebrated as a resistance fighter by his compatriots.
music
The opera was rightly given the attribute “cheerful”, because the music adapts brilliantly to the funny textbook. It is melodious and quickly puts the listener in a good mood. The scene in which the false Wibbel is buried and the music strikes pseudo-festive tones of mourning is particularly successful.