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Revision as of 19:51, 4 August 2013 by Smerus (talk | contribs) (→Synopsis: see talk page)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Template:Wagner operas Das Liebesverbot, WWV 38, (The ban on love) is an early opera in two acts by Richard Wagner, with the libretto written by the composer after Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. Described as a Große komische Oper, it was composed in 1834, and Wagner conducted the premiere in 1836 at Magdeburg. Poorly attended and with a lead singer who forgot the words and had to improvise, it was a resounding flop and its second performance had to be cancelled after a fist-fight between the prima donna's husband and the lead tenor broke out backstage before the curtain had even risen; only three people were in the audience. It was never performed again in Wagner's lifetime.
Restrained sexuality versus eroticism plays an important role in Das Liebesverbot; themes that recur throughout much of Wagner's output, most notably in Tannhäuser, Die Walküre and Tristan und Isolde. In each opera, the self-abandonment to love brings the lovers into mortal combat with the surrounding social order. In Das Liebesverbot, because it is a comedy, the outcome is a happy one: unrestrained sexuality wins as the orgiastic carnival of the entire population goes rioting on after curtain-fall.
Wagner's second opera, and his first to be performed, has many signs of an early work: the style is modelled closely on contemporary French and Italian comic opera. It is also referred to as the forgotten comedy, in that only two of Wagner's works are comedies, the other being Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.
Performance history
The opera was rarely performed in the following hundred years. In the United Kingdom, the first performance was given on 16 February 1965 at the Collegiate Theatre of the University of London. In North America its most successful revival was in 1983, conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch, but its fully staged premiere took place on 19 July 2008 at the Glimmerglass Festival in a production by Nicholas Muni. The cast was led by Mark Schnaible as Friedrich and Claudia Waite as Isabella; Corrado Rovaris conducted. In 1994 Das Liebesverbot was performed at the Wexford Opera Festival. In 2009, a concert production was presented at the International Festival of Young Singers at the Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg plus a staged production at the Staatstheater Braunschweig in October. In 2013, 200 years after the composer's birth, it was performed in Bayreuth for the first time. A production of the Oper Leipzig was shown in the Oberfrankenhalle, a hall for sports, because Wagner had banned his early operas from the Festspielhaus. It was staged by Aron Stiehl with elements of operetta and revue; Constantin Trinks conducted the Gewandhausorchester.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 29 March 1836 (Conductor: Richard Wagner) |
|---|---|---|
| Friedrich, governor of Sicily | bass-baritone | Gräfe |
| Luzio, a young nobleman | tenor | Ignaz Freimüller |
| Claudio, a young nobleman | tenor | Schreiber |
| Antonio, their friend | tenor | |
| Angelo, their friend | baritone | Friedrich Krug |
| Isabella, Claudio's sister | soprano | Karoline Pollert |
| Mariana, novice in a monastery | soprano | Mathilde Limbach |
| Brighella, captain of the watch | baritone | Wilhelm Kneisel |
| Danieli, an innkeeper | bass | |
| Dorella | soprano | Schindler |
| Ponzio Pilato, Danieli's servant | tenor | |
| Nuns, judges, guards, townspeople, musicians | ||
Synopsis
Recordings
- Robert Heger conducting the Austrian Rundfunk Chor and Orchester, with de [Heinz Imdahl], Ernst Salzer, Anton Dermota, Kurt Equiluz, Willy Friedrich, Hilde Zadek, Christiane Sorrell, Hannelore Steffek, Ernst Salzer, Ludwig Welter, Franz Handlos, de [Herbert Prikopa]. Vienna 1962. (Melodram, 3 LP set 244, 2-CD set 10040)
- Edward Downes conducting the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra, with April Cantelo (Isabella), Alexander Young (Luzio), Raimund Herincx (Friedrich), BBC Northern Singers. Live, complete and uncut, concert recording 23 May 1976, with bonus tracks from a 1971 Sadler's Wells Opera performance of Lohengrin, sung in English and conducted by Nicholas Braithwaite with a cast led by Margaret Curphy as Elsa, Clifford Grant as Heinrich der Vogler, Raimund Herincx as Telramund, and Judith Turner as Ortrud (Ponto POCD1055)
- Wolfgang Sawallisch conducting the Bavarian State Opera. de [Sabine Hass], Sarah Coburn, de [Robert Schunk], Hermann Prey. 1995 (Orfeo D'or)
The overture is regularly found on radio broadcasts and compilation CDs.
References
Notes
- Holden, (ed.), p. 1022
- Online at Operabase.com
- George Loomis (30 May 2013): "In Wagner's Backyard, Early Works Get Their Due" by George Loomis, The New York Times, 30 May 2013
- (9 July 2013) Das Highlight der Festspiele: "Das Liebesverbot" Template:De icon
- Gherardo Casaglia: Almanacco
Sources
- Holden, Amanda, (ed.), The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin / Putnam, 2001. ISBN 0-14-029312-4
- Synopsis adapted from Wagner's synopsis in his Mein Leben
- Magee, Bryan (2001), The Tristan Chord. Henry Holt & Co., New York
- Dreyfus, Laurence, "Wagner and the Erotic Impulse", London: Harvard University Press, 2010
