Ulenspiegel (Opera)
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Ulenspiegel |
| Shape: | thoroughly composed |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Walter Braunfels |
| Libretto : | Walter Braunfels |
| Literary source: | Thyl Ulenspiegel by Charles de Coster |
| Premiere: | November 4, 1913 |
| Place of premiere: | Stuttgart , Royal Court Theater |
| Playing time: | about 2 hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Gent , port of Vlissingen , Damme , at the time of the governorship of Duke Alba in the Netherlands (1567 to 1573) |
| people | |
Geusen, Spaniards, citizens of Ghent, citizens of Vlissingen, citizens of Damme, priests of indulgence, monks, people |
|
Ulenspiegel is an opera in three acts, Op. 23 by Walter Braunfels , which premiered on November 4, 1913 at the Royal Court Theater in Stuttgart . Walter Braunfels' libretto is based on the novel Die Legende and the heroic, happy and glorious adventures of Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak by Charles de Coster .
action
1st elevator
First scene: Place in Ghent.
The craftsmen gather at night. They are very concerned about the arrival of Spanish troops led by the Duke Alba and fear that they will lose their freedoms and privileges. The Profoss announces a decree, according to which Duke Alba demands the unconditional obedience of his subordinates. Till Ulenspiegel mocks his fellow citizens and the indulgence priests alike and evades their access by fleeing.
Second scene: Small room in the class’s house.
Klas, Till's father, and his foster daughter Nele lament the appearance of the Spaniards. Till storms into the house, on the run from his pursuers. As soon as he has said goodbye to his beloved Nele and left the house through the window, Profoss steps up and imprisons Klas. By using torture he wants to find out Till's escape destination.
2nd elevator
First scene: harbor bay in Vlissingen.
Till managed to escape to the Geusen, i.e. to like-minded resistance fighters. In the hustle and bustle of the market, he talks to Jost and dreams of a peaceful life as a fisherman. When Nele suddenly appears, she brings him the sad news of Klasen's death. Since the torture ordered by Profoss, according to Neles report, was unsuccessful, Klas was handed over to the Inquisition and burned at the stake. Till swears vengeance.
Second scene
Till and Nele convince the citizens of Vlissingen of the need to fight the Spaniards.
3rd elevator
First Scene. Place in Damme.
The Geusen watch a car dairy : women are tied to the stake to carry out the Inquisition's verdicts. Monks intone the Latin requiem. Led by Till, Jost and the mayor of Vlissingen, the Geusen succeed in freeing their fellow believers and people. While the women flee, a fight ensues, in the course of which Till is captured.
Second scene. Dungeon.
In anticipation of his imminent death, Till initially considers Nele's appearance to be an illusion. The beloved frees him. Nele wants to flee with him in order to live somewhere in freedom and peace. But Till wants to keep fighting to avenge his father's death.
Third scene.
In the alleys of Damme the Geusen are cornered more and more. Nele tries one last time to stop Ulenspiegel, but Ulenspiegel disdains her love and continues to fight. When the rushing Profoss wants to kill Till with his sword, Nele stands protectively in front of him, takes the blow and dies. Till is dismayed and aware of what has happened. But he wants to keep fighting to prevent Nele from dying in vain and his father's death from going unpunished. He moves away with the Geusen.
Origin and reception
As is usual with Braunfels' other operas, Ulenspiegel was based on a literary model. Braunfels wrote his libretto based on de Coster's novel Till Ulenspiegel. Braunfels did not want to heed the well-intentioned advice from Furtwängler , given on the occasion of the premiere of the three-act play , to consult an accomplished librettist in the future. The contemporary music critic Paul Bekker classified Braunfels' opera as follows:
“The Eulenspiegel material has recently attracted musicians to dramatic design several times. Richard Strauss sketched a 'Eulenspiegel' libretto which was later transformed into a tone poem. After him, Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek created a three-act 'Eulenspiegel' opera, a work that, despite some weaknesses in the theatrical version, has remarkable advantages in the musical and dramatic design of the ambiguous main character and which occasionally deserves to be performed by active theaters. Whilst for Strauss the temptation to be found in the psychological characteristics of the jester nature, Reznicek drew her tragicomic relationship to the surrounding world. Walter Braunfels understands the Eulenspiegel motif in a substantially different way. He sees in the fool the immature person who is suddenly transformed into a man through a shocking experience, whom this transformation costs not only his father, but also his beloved, and who, despite the second loss, does not become unfaithful to his mission, holds on to it inviolably and grows up to be a hero. "
The contemporaries were not entirely enthusiastic about the premiere:
“Enticed by de Coster's gripping description of the religious struggles of the Dutch against the Spanish masters, he loses sight of his real, emotionally appealing object and gives a theatrical demonstration of elevators, fights, and popular riots. You could probably force the reader to participate and keep in suspense in a progressive epic performance. Symbolized for stage appearances, they mean meaningless, incomprehensible in their conditions and their course, therefore indifferent decorative effects "
Alexander Eisenmann's judgment was somewhat more favorable :
“Compared to the 'Brambilla', Braunfels shows great progress. His orchestra is treated more favorably, the dark colors have occasionally given way to the light ones, the covering of the singing voice, although still too strong, has become easier. Ulenspiegel is not a 'throw', but luckily we have not yet forgotten that the intrinsic value of an opera does not depend on what is called attractive. Anyone who longs for cheap theatrics has to get their food elsewhere than at Braunfels. "
And Paul Ehlers summed up:
“The reception of the opera by the audience was so warm that Braunfels and the main actors had to step in front of the curtain after the second and third acts. But Stuttgart can count on the fact that it has paved the way for this new work by the gifted composer. "
The premiere in Stuttgart was not followed by any further production. Also only three or four performances were given. The exact number is not guaranteed. The reason for this lies not only in the ban on the performance of Braunfels' works from 1933, but probably also in its conversion to Catholicism in 1917. He no longer wanted to deal with the emphatically anti-Catholic material.
Rediscovery
The opera Ulenspiegel has not been performed since 1913. The stages in the city of Gera showed them for the first time in 98 years, directed by Matthias Oldag and with a stage design by Stephan Braunfels , the composer's grandson. The conductor was Jens Tröster. The premiere was on January 28, 2011. The criticism in the regional and national newspapers consistently praised the work and the performance. (FAZ, SZ or Peter Korfmacher in the LVZ). The direction, stage design and costumes received great praise, but also the artistic interpretation of individual outstanding singers, who also had convincing acting performances, such as Marie Dreßen as Nele. The opera was recorded by MDR Figaro and Deutschlandradio Kultur .
On September 10, 2014, as part of the Bruckner Festival, the EntArteOpera association staged a very successful new production in the Tabakfabrik Linz, where the work premiered in a specially created version for chamber orchestra by Werner Steinmetz for approx. 35 musicians from the Israel Chamber Orchestra under Martin Sieghart would have. The director was Roland Schwab , the set was created by Susanne Thomasberger .
literature
- Paul Bekker : Ulenspiegel . In: Sound and Eros. Second volume of the collected writings . Stuttgart and Berlin, 1922.
- Carl Hegemann u. a. (Ed.): Jeanne d'Arc - Scenes from the life of Saint Joan . Program of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, 2008.
- Ute Jung : Walter Braunfels (1882–1954) . Gustav Bosse Verlag, Regensburg 1980, ISBN 978-3-7649-2215-3 .
- Agnete von Specht: Walter Braunfels . Berlin, 2008.
- Felix Eckerle: Ulenspiegel. Program booklet . Theater & Philharmonic Thuringia. Gera, 2010.
Web links
- Information on the 2011/12 staging ( memento from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) at: tpthueringen.de
- EntArteOpera
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stefan Ender: The fool, the fanatical fighting machine. In: The Standard . September 11, 2014 .