Seelewig

Last updated

Seelewig or Das geistliche Waldgedicht oder Freudenspiel genant Seelewig (The Sacred Forest Poem or Play of Rejoicing called Seelewig) is an opera in a prologue, three acts and an epilogue by the German composer Sigmund Theophil Staden.

Contents

The libretto by Georg Philipp Harsdörffer (1607–1658), first published 1644 in the fourth part of his Frauenzimmer Gesprächspiele, is based on the schoolplay Ein gar schön geistliches Waldgetichte genant Die glückseelige Seele of 1637, itself translated from L'anima felice favola boschareccia by the Italian Nicolò Negri (1606). [1]

It is the earliest German opera whose music has survived. On the surface, the work seems to be a typical Christian allegory of the soul's journey through this world and the symbolic action takes place in a pastoral setting. [2] Nonetheless, recent inquiries [3] which account for the context of the libretto in Harsdörffer's Frauenzimmer Gesprächspiele have pointed out several problems of a seamless allegoresis. Those readings make it much more likely that Seelewig is bound to its Jesuit pretext in a complex, competitive and even polemic way.

The opera mixes musical numbers and spoken dialogue in a way which foreshadows the Singspiel.

Performance history

It was performed before the court at Nuremberg in 1644. Duchess Elisabeth Sophie of Mecklenburg also arranged a performance at Wolfenbüttel on 21 April 1654 [4] and it was staged again in Augsburg in 1698.

In the 1970s it was revived with productions in Germany, the Netherlands and Oberlin, Ohio.[ citation needed ]

Roles

Roles, voice types
Role Voice type
Seelewig (Eternal Soul) soprano
Trügewald a satyr
Sinnigunda (Sensuousness)
Gwissulda (Conscience)soprano
Herzigild (Wisdom)soprano
Reichimuth (Wealth)
Ehrelob (Power)
Künsteling tenor

Synopsis

Prologue

Music confesses her disappointment that so much recent entertainment has been secular. Allied with Poetry, she intends to return to her true vocation: the praise of God.

Act 1

The satyr Trügewald wants to seduce the beautiful nymph Seelewig. Fearing his own ugliness will lead to failure, he enlists the help of the vain young shepherd Künsteling, as well as Ehrelob, Reichimuth and Sinnigunda. Sinnigunda tries to lead Seelewig from the path of virtue but Gwissulda and Herzigild warn the latter to beware of her deceit. The thwarted Trügewald is furious.

Act 2

Künsteling, Ehrelob, Reichimuth and Sinnigunda ply Seelewig with gifts (a telescope, a fishing rod, a bow and arrow and a crown of flowers). Once again Gwissulda and Herzigild save Seelewig from their seductions. Seelewig takes fright during a storm and sings a song asking advice from the forest echo, which warns her to flee the snares of this world.

Act 3

The next morning Trügewald and his friends try a new way to trick Seelewig. Seelewig again asks advice from the echo but this time it is Trügewald who replies, disguising his voice. This echo tells Seelewig to give herself over to the pleasures of this world. As Seelewig plays a game of blind man's buff with the shepherds, Trügewald leaps out and catches her. But Gwissulda and Herzigild pull the blindfold off Seelewig's eyes to reveal the ugly truth. Trügewald and his companions are chased from the forest. Seelewig is converted and a chorus of angels give thanks for her salvation.

Recordings

Related Research Articles

<i>La clemenza di Tito</i> 1791 opera by W. A. Mozart

La clemenza di Tito, K. 621, is an opera seria in two acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, after Pietro Metastasio. Mozart began the work while he was finishing Die Zauberflöte, the last of his principal operas. La clemenza di Tito premiered on 6 September 1791 at the Estates Theatre in Prague.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georg Philipp Harsdörffer</span> German jurist, poet, translator

Georg Philipp Harsdörffer was a Jurist, Baroque-period German poet and translator.

Mona Lisa, Op. 31, is a 1915 opera by the German composer Max von Schillings on a libretto by Beatrice von Dovsky. It was dedicated to the Philosophy Faculty of the University of Heidelberg, where the composer was awarded the title of professor.

<i>Bastien und Bastienne</i>

Bastien und Bastienne, K. 50 is a one-act singspiel, a comic opera, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

<i>Von heute auf morgen</i> German operatic comedy

Von heute auf morgen is a one act opera composed by Arnold Schoenberg, to a German libretto by "Max Blonda", the pseudonym of Gertrud Schoenberg, the composer's wife. It is the composer's opus 32.

<i>Larbore di Diana</i>

L'arbore di Diana is an opera in two acts composed by Vicente Martín y Soler, with an original libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on 1 October 1787.

Der Golem is an opera in three acts by composer Eugen d'Albert. The work uses a German language libretto by Ferdinand Lion after Arthur Holitscher's 1908 play Der Golem: Ghettolengende in drei Aufzügen. The opera premiered on 14 November 1926 at the Oper Frankfurt, conducted by Clemens Krauss.

<i>Der Rauchfangkehrer</i> Opera by Antonio Salieri

Der Rauchfangkehrer, oder Die Unentbehrlichen Verräther ihrer Herrschaften aus Eigennutz is an opera in three acts by Antonio Salieri to a German libretto by Leopold Auenbrugger. Originally designated as a Musikalisches Lustspiel, the work has the characteristics of both a German Singspiel and an Italian opera buffa.

<i>Günther von Schwarzburg</i> (opera) Opera by Ignaz Holzbauer

Günther von Schwarzburg is a Singspiel in three acts by Ignaz Holzbauer set to a German libretto by Anton Klein. Loosely based on events in the life of the 14th-century German king, Günther von Schwarzburg, the opera premiered on 5 January 1777 at the Hoftheater in the Mannheim Palace.

<i>Orpheus</i> (Telemann)

Orpheus is an opera in three acts by the German composer Georg Philipp Telemann. It was first performed in a concert version at the Oper am Gänsemarkt in Hamburg on 9 March 1726. The anonymous libretto is based on the 1690 opera Orphée by Michel Duboullay, originally set by the French composer Louis Lully. Most of the work is in German but it also contains passages in French and Italian drawn from famous operas by Handel and Jean-Baptiste Lully. The music to these words is Telemann's own, however. The manuscript score of Telemann's Orpheus was not rediscovered until the late 20th century.

<i>Faust</i> (Spohr) 1816 opera by Louis Spohr

Faust is an opera by the German composer Louis Spohr. The libretto, by Joseph Karl Bernard, is based on the legend of Faust; it is not influenced by Goethe's Faust, though Faust, Part One had been published in 1808. Instead, Bernard's libretto draws mainly on Faust plays and poems by Friedrich Maximilian Klinger and Heinrich von Kleist. Spohr's Faust is an important work in the history of German Romantic opera.

Die toten Augen is an opera with a prologue and one act by Eugen d'Albert to a libretto in German by Hanns Heinz Ewers and Marc Henry after Henry's own 1897 play Les yeux morts.

<i>Temistocle</i> (J.C. Bach) 1772 opera seria by Johann Christian Bach

Temistocle (Themistocles) is an opera seria in three acts by the German composer Johann Christian Bach. The Italian text is an extensive revision of the libretto by Metastasio first set by Antonio Caldara in 1736, by Mattia Verazi, court poet and private secretary to the Elector Palatine Carl Theodor. The opera was the first of two which J. C. Bach set for the Elector Palatine. Some of the music was reused from earlier works, including part of the overture from Carattaco.

<i>Lisuart und Dariolette</i> Opera by Johann Adam Hiller

Lisuart und Dariolette, oder Die Frage und die Antwort is a 'romantisch-comische Oper' by the German composer Johann Adam Hiller.

The Bride of Messina is a tragic opera in three acts, op. 18, by composer Zdeněk Fibich. The Czech language libretto by Otakar Hostinský is based on Friedrich Schiller's play Die Braut von Messina. Fibich's most Wagnerian opera, he composed the work between 1882 and 1883 for the purposes of submitting it in an opera competition sponsored by the National Theatre in Prague. The opera won first prize in the 1883 competition and it premiered at the National Theatre on 28 March 1884. At its first presentation music critics responded with high praise to the work and it is now considered to be Fibich's masterpiece. However, the opera's morose story, melancholy scoring and astringent style have hindered it from gaining wide popularity.

<i>Die Kathrin</i>

Die Kathrin, Op. 28, is an opera in three acts by Erich Wolfgang Korngold with a German libretto by Ernst Décsey.

<i>Flammen</i> (Schreker)

Flammen (Flames) is a one-act opera by Franz Schreker, on a libretto by Dora Leen, pseudonym of Dora Pollak.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johann Philipp Förtsch</span> German baroque composer, statesman and doctor

Johann Philipp Förtsch was a German baroque composer, statesman and medical doctor.

<i>Alceste</i> (Schweitzer) Opera by Anton Schweitzer and Christoph Martin Wieland

Alceste is an opera in German in five acts by Anton Schweitzer with a libretto by Christoph Martin Wieland. It was commissioned by Abel Seyler for the Seylersche Schauspiel-Gesellschaft, and premiered on 28 May 1773 at the Hoftheater Weimar. Considered a milestone of German opera, it was revived in Weimar and recorded in 1999.

References

  1. see Caemmerer 1987 and Schütze 2010
  2. See Caemmerer 1987 and 1998, Aikin 2002
  3. See Schütze 2010 and Kaminski 2010
  4. Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "Seelewig" . L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).
  5. Seelewig CPO recording, includes essay by Johan van Veen, musicweb-international.com

Sources

Further reading