Violanta
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Violanta |
|
|
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Erich Wolfgang Korngold |
| Libretto : | Hans Müller-Einigen |
| Premiere: | March 28, 1916 |
| Place of premiere: | Court Theater Munich |
| Place and time of the action: | Venice in the 15th century |
| people | |
|
|
Violanta is an opera in one act by Erich Wolfgang Korngold based on a libretto by Hans Müller-Einigen .
history
After Der Ring des Polykrates , Violanta is the second opera by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, which he composed at the age of seventeen. Because the work was too short to be performed on its own, it was not premiered until March 28, 1916 as the first part of the evening in front of the Ring des Polykrates under the direction of Bruno Walter in the Munich Court Theater .
Orchestral line-up
4 bottles (4th also Picc ), 2 Ob. , EH , 3 Sure. , B. Clear. , 2 Fg. , K.Fg. , 4 Hr. , 3 Trp. , 3 Pos. , B.Th. , Pkn. , Schl. (3rd player: Glsp. , Xyl. , Kl.Tr. , Tr. , Gr.Tr. , Bek. , Tambourine , tamtam , deep bell), Mand. , Kl. , Cel. 2 Hrf. , Strings
- Incidental music
2 tr., 2 pos., Tambourine
Cast of the premiere
| role | Pitch | Cast for the first time March 28, 1916 (Conductor: - Bruno Walter ) |
|---|---|---|
| Simone Trovai, captain of the Republic of Venice | baritone | Friedrich Brodersen |
| Violanta, his wife | soprano | Emmy Kruger |
| Alfonso, son of the King of Naples | tenor | Franz Gruber |
| Giovanni Bracca, painter | tenor | Alfred Bauberger |
| Bice, Violanta's maid | soprano | Irene von Fladung |
| Barbara, Violanta's wet nurse | Old | Luise Willer |
| Mateo | tenor | Paul Kuhn |
| First soldier | tenor | Fritz Birrenkoven |
| Second soldier | baritone | |
| First maid | soprano | |
| Second maid | Mezzo-soprano |
content
The action takes place in the 15th century in the house of Simone Trovai, the captain of the Republic of Venice, where the carnival bustle penetrates through the wide open windows. Lanterns and torches flit past and you can hear a carnival song from the boatmen passing by. The servants, maids, soldiers and Bice in the costume of Colombina enjoy this hustle and bustle , only Barbara and Matteo have other thoughts: She misses Violanta and he has to let the soldiers ridicule him for his love for Violanta.
Captain Simone sends the soldiers to their posts and the women to search for Violanta, thus putting a stop to the exuberant happiness. The cheeky and happy time disgusts him and Giovanni only manages to get him to come by telling him that Don Alfonso is also at the carnival, whom Violanta hates because he drove her sister Nerina to suicide after he seduced her would have. However, Simone is stopped by the appearance of Violanta, who is returning from the festival. She still has confetti in her hair and reports that she discovered Alfonso and lured him away from the crowd with a song. He would soon come to her without realizing that she is Nerina's sister. Violanta, who wants to avenge her sister, demands of Simone that he should kill Alfonso.
As a sign that Simone should come out of his hiding place and knock Alfonso down, the song is agreed upon with which Violanta had lured Alfonso away earlier. Violanta, shaken, prepares to face Alfonso. Barbara tries to calm her down with a fairy tale she told Violanta in her childhood.
In the meantime, full moonlight shines over the lagoon as the sound of the oars of the boat in which Alfonso approaches can be heard through the silence. He and Violanta face each other spellbound and Violanta urges him to take off his coat and weapons. When he begins to sing the song, she tells him to be silent, reveals himself to be Nerina's sister and predicts Alfonso will soon die. Alfonso does not protest against death, but he does protest against the humiliation and contempt that Violanta brought him. In Violanta all hatred is thus turned into passion.
When Alfonso asks Violanta to sing the song, she is unable to do so, confesses her love for him and they both sink into each other's arms. Simone's call is heard, which Violanta answers with the ecstatically sung song on Alfonso's instructions. She wants to prevent Alfonso's murder and confesses her love for Alfonso to the entering Simone, which only increases Simone's anger, so that he immediately rushes at Alfonso with the dagger. But Violanta, who threw herself protectively between Simone and Alfonso, is fatally hit by the stab in the back.
Outside the colorful carnival bustle takes its course and Giovanni rushes into the hall with some masks. All of them see the dying Violanta with chuckles.
literature
- Carroll, Brendan. "Korngold's 'Violanta'". The Musical Times 122/1653 (November 1980): 695-98.
- Krebs, Wolfgang. " Dramaturgy of Entrimination. Erich Wolfgang Korngold's one-act opera 'Violanta' ", Frankfurter Zeitschrift für Musikwissenschaft 1/1 (1998): 26–39.
- Krebs, Wolfgang. Violanta, Erich Wolfgang Korngold's Dionysian stage work . Berlin: Rhombos-Verlag, 2014. 158 pp.
- Piper's Encyclopedia of Music Theater , Volume 3. Works. Henze - Massine. Piper, Munich and Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-492-02413-0 ; xviii, 796 pp. 314/16.
- Woodpecker, Richard. Thematic guide to Erich W. Korngold's "Violanta" and "Der Ring des Polykrates" . Mainz and Leipzig: B. Schott's Sons, 1916. iv, 68 pp.
Individual evidence
- ^ Piper's Encyclopedia of Music Theater, Volume 3, pp. 314/15