Zemirs and Azor
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| Title: | Zemirs and Azor |
Title page of the piano reduction, Hamburg 1820 |
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| Shape: | Romantic opera in two acts |
| Original language: | German |
| Music: | Louis Spohr |
| Libretto : | Johann Jakob Ihlée |
| Literary source: | Jean-François Marmontel : Zemire et Azor |
| Premiere: | April 4, 1819 |
| Place of premiere: | City Theater Frankfurt |
| Playing time: | approx. 2 ½ hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Persia in a legendary world |
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Zemire and Azor is a two-act romantic opera with music by Louis Spohr . The premiere under Spohr's own musical direction took place on April 4, 1819 in the Frankfurt City Theater . In Spohr's oeuvre , the opera was numbered as follows: Werk ohne Opus, 52 (1818/19).
action
The following table of contents is based on the text in Johannes Scholtze's Complete Guide to the Repertoire Operas of 1910.
First elevator
Hypostyle hall, thunderstorm night
The choir of invisible spirits sings: “Where the clouds are moving black.” Sander and Ali come and, despite Ali's warning, seek protection from the storm in the house. The thunderstorm will soon be over and they both want to move on. Sander picks another rose. Then Azor appears under violent claps of thunder and says: "Know that the hand of an evil spell bound my fate in this flower for ever!" "So take the rose back here from my hands," says Sander, and after Azor has expressed the hope, that one of Sander's daughters frees him from the spell, he quickly leads the two strangers home.
Sander's house
Sander's daughters rush to meet their father, who brings Zemire the rose of Azorean as a present. Zemire sings: “Rose, how lovely and gentle you are.” Then Ali comes along and tells her that “the rose that he gave you threatens the father's life, he gave himself away for her, but still can for him Happiness blossom when you give yourself up for him. ”Zemire is immediately ready to save her father. Ali has to show her the way to Azor. After a tender farewell to his father, Zemire moves away with Ali.
second elevator
Azor's Castle
Zemire and Ali have arrived at the Azors Castle. The latter appears, but despite his deformity, Zemire gains confidence in Azor. "Fear and horror are disappearing." Zemire now demands that she can see her father again for a short time. Azor reluctantly fulfills the girl's wish, but puts a ring as a talisman on her finger.
Sander's house
“I fell asleep under the palm trees,” Ali sings when he wakes up and sees where he is. Soon the sisters arrive and wrest the talisman from Zemire. Zemire hurries away again.
Azor's garden
Azor waits in vain for Zemire to return. "To increase my suffering" he sings and sadly enters the rock grotto in the background. But then Zemire comes along too; she is happy to see that she has finally found the place again. A fairy meets her and hands her back the ring that was stolen by the sisters. The fairy waves to Zemire kindly and disappears.
State Hall
Azor, in youthful beauty, surrounded by his followers, sits on the throne and happily receives his beloved and redeemer. Old Sander and the two sisters join the general cheering.
layout
The opera contains spoken dialogues.
orchestra
The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:
- Woodwinds : two flutes (1st also piccolo ), two oboes , two clarinets , two bassoons
- Brass : four horns , two trumpets , trombone
- Timpani
- guitar
- Strings
- Incidental music: two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, trombone
Work history
Zemire und Azor was created during Spohr's stay in Frankfurt am Main (1817-1819) on the basis of the libretto by Grétry's well-known Opéra-comique Zémire et Azor (1771). Marmontel's verses were freely translated by Johann Jakob Ihlée for this purpose .
Rosina Friedel (Zemire), Johann Nepomuk Schelble (Azor) and the sisters Albertina and Giannetta Campagnoli (Fatme, Lisbe) sang at the premiere on April 4, 1819 in the Stadttheater Frankfurt . The performance was successful and received a positive review from Ludwig Börne .
In the following years the opera spread rapidly. There were performances in Amsterdam ( Hoogduitse Schouwburg , 1819/20), Leipzig (1820), Munich, Vienna (1821), Kassel (1823), Königsberg (1829) and Weimar (1837). In 1826 it was played in French (translation: Henri Brovellio) in Lille, in 1828 in Swedish (translation: Bernhard Crusell) in Stockholm and in 1831 in English (arrangement: George Smart, translation: William Ball) in London. In 1862 Zemire and Azore were played in Kassel, and in 1885 in Berlin.
In the 20th century Zemire und Azor was not played in concert again in Kassel until 1984. There were staged re-performances in 1985 in Lippstadt and in 2000 in the Neuburg Chamber Opera .
Recordings
- 1996 Anton Kolar; Choir of the Nordhausen Theater , Loh Orchestra Sondershausen . German records DS 1064-2 (2 CDs). Cast: Hans-Jürgen Schöpflin (Ali); Michael Howard (Azor); Gabriela Zamfirescu (Fatme); Sabine Blanchard (Lisbe); Johannes Schwärsky (Sander); Brigitte Roth (Zemire).
Web links
- Zemire and Azor, WoO 52 : Sheet Music and Audio Files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Piano reduction, Hamburg 1820. Digitized in the Internet archive
- Arias and chants from Zemirs and Azor. Frankfurt 1825. Digitization of the Munich digitization center
- Romance (Rose, how lovely and mild are you) from the opera Zemire and Azor / comp. by Louis Spohr. Digitized version of the University and State Library Bonn
- Manuscripts and performances (1770–1830) by Zemire and Azor in the DFG opera project
- Work data on Zemire and Azor based on the MGG with discography at Operone
- Work information at Klassika.info
Individual evidence
- ↑ Johannes Scholtze (Ed.): Complete opera guide through the repertoire operas. 2nd edition, Mode, Berlin 1910, pp. 433-434 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
- ↑ a b c d e Manuela Jahrmärker: Zemire and Azor. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 5: Works. Piccinni - Spontini. Piper, Munich and Zurich 1994, ISBN 3-492-02415-7 , pp. 758-760.