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Die tote Stadt

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Die tote Stadt
Opera byErich Wolfgang Korngold
Scene at theGraz Operain 2015
LibrettistPaul Schott
LanguageGerman
Based onBruges-la-MortebyGeorges Rodenbach
Premiere
4 December 1920(1920-12-04)

Die tote Stadt(German for 'The Dead City'), Op. 12, is anoperain three acts byErich Wolfgang Korngoldset to alibrettoby Paul Schott, a collective pseudonym for the composer and his father,Julius Korngold.It is based on the 1892 novelBruges-la-MortebyGeorges Rodenbach.

Origins

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Rodenbach's novelBruges la Mortehad already been adapted by the author into a play. The play was translated into German bySiegfried Trebitschunder the titleDie stille Stadt(The Silent City), which he later changed toDas Trugbild(The Mirage). Trebitsch was a friend of Korngold's father, Julius. The two met in the street one day and got into a conversation about a possible operatic adaptation. Trebitsch later met Erich, who was enthusiastic about the project. Trebitsch recalled "[I] met the young master Erich Wolfgang Korngold in search of a scenario or, even better, a mood or operatic background that could be dramatically elaborated. I urged him to take upDas Trugbild."[1]Julius commented on the way the project evolved:

As soon as Erich read the play, he drafted a scenario for a one-acter, butHans Müllerurged him to get away from one-act operas and he sketched the first of three acts in prose. However, his work on two of his own plays prevented him from getting much further, and since his prose was wordy and unsingable anyway, we gladly excused him from the task.[1]

Father and son decided to adapt the play themselves, and co-wrote the libretto, using the pseudonym Paul Schott. Julius decided to change the plot so that the murder occurs in a dream, rather than in actuality, as in the original. Korngold started the composition in 1916. He left it for a year to take up military service before resuming and completing the score.[1]

Performance history

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Libretto cover published in 1921
Opera notes with dedication

WhenDie tote Stadthad its premiere on December 4, 1920, Korngold was just 23 years old with two short one-act operas,Der Ring des PolykratesandViolanta,already to his name. The success of these earlier works was so great thatDie tote Stadtwas subject to a fierce competition among German theatres for the right to the world premiere. In the end, an unusual double premiere was arranged and the opera opened simultaneously at theStadttheater Hamburgand inCologne (Glockengasse).In Cologne, the conductor wasOtto Klemperer,and his wifeJohanna Geislersang Marietta. In Hamburg, Korngold himself was in the theatre, and the conductor was Egon Pollak. The opera's theme of overcoming the loss of a loved one resonated with contemporary audiences of the 1920s who had just come through the trauma and grief ofWorld War I,and this undoubtedly fuelled the work's popularity.

Die tote Stadtwas one of the greatest hits of the 1920s. Within two years of its premiere it had circled the globe, including several performances at theMetropolitan Operain New York City. The Berlin première was on 12 April 1924 withLotte Lehmannas Marietta/Marie andRichard Tauberas Paul, conducted byGeorge Szell.

The work was banned by theNazirégime because of Korngold'sJewishancestry and afterWorld War IIit fell into obscurity. The key postwar revivals of the piece were at theVienna Volksoper(1967) and theNew York City Opera(1975).[2]In the early 2000s the work has enjoyed notable revivals, among others at theTheater Bonn,theRoyal Opera House,theSan Francisco Operaand at theVienna State Opera.[3]

The French premiere of the opera took place in a concert performance in 1982 at the ParisThéâtre des Champs-Élysées.The first French staged performance was in April 2001 in Strasbourg under the baton ofJan Latham-KoenigwithTorsten Kerl[de](Paul) andAngela Denoke(Marietta).

The opera received its UK premiere on 14 January 1996 in a concert performance by theKensington Symphony Orchestraconducted byRussell Keableat theQueen Elizabeth Hall,with Ian Caley (Paul) and Christine Teare (Marie/Marietta). The first UK staged performance was on 27 January 2009 at theRoyal Opera House,Covent Garden. The opera was first staged in English byEnglish National Operain March 2023, directed by Annilese Miskimmon and conducted byKirill Karabits.[4]

The opera was first performed in Latin America atTeatro ColóninBuenos Aires,Argentina, on September 19, 1999, with Carlos Bengolea as Paul,Cynthia Makrisas Marie/Marietta and David Pittman-Jennings as Frank;Stefan Lanowas the conductor.

In Australia, the work was first premiered byOpera Australiaon 30 June 2012 at theSydney Opera House,withCheryl Barkeras Marie/Marietta, and Stefan Vinke as Paul, conducted byChristian Badea,directed byBruce Beresford.[5]In 1986, Beresford directed the episode "Glück, das mir verblieb"ofAria.

Opera Coloradoopened a new production directed by Chas Rader-Shieber, designed by Robert Perdziola, and conducted by music director Ari Pelto on 26 February 2023 at theEllie Caulkins Opera House.It featured Jonathan Burton as Paul, Sara Gartland as Marie/Marietta (staging), Kara Shay Thomson as Marie/Marietta (vocals),Daniel Belcheras Frank/Fritz, andElizabeth Bishopas Brigitta.

Roles

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Graz Opera 2015
Roles, voice types, premiere casts
Role Voice type Premiere cast in Hamburg,
4 December 1920,
Conductor: Egon Pollak 		Premiere cast in Cologne,
4 December 1920,
Conductor:Otto Klemperer
Paul/Gaston/Victorin/Albert tenor Richard Schubert Karl Schröder
Marie/Marietta soprano Annie Münchow Johanna Klemperer
Juliette soprano Maria Jeritza Johanna Klemperer
Brigitta/Lucienne mezzo-soprano Maria Olszewska Katherina Rohr
Frank-Fritz baritone Josef Degler Karl Renner
Chorus:party goers

Synopsis

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Place:Bruges,Belgium, called the Dead City (die tote Stadt) for its pious gloom
Time: End of 19th century
Background: Paul lives in his house in Bruges where his young wife, Marie, had died some years before. Paul has not come to terms with the reality of her death. He keeps aKirche des Gewesenen(Temple of the Past) in her honor, a locked room including keepsakes, including photographs, a lute, and a lock of her hair. Until the action of the opera begins, no one had been in the room except him and his housekeeper Brigitta.[6]

Act 1

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Brigitta is showing the locked room to Frank, an old friend of Paul's, who is in Bruges on a visit. She explains that only the day before, Paul had unexpectedly announced the room could be open again. Paul arrives, excitedly insisting that Marie still lives. He tells Frank that the day before he met a woman on the streets of Bruges who exactly resembles Marie (indeed, Paul wants to believe she is Marie resurrected) and has invited her back to his home. Frank leaves, promising to return shortly. The woman, whose name is Marietta, appears for her rendezvous with Paul. She is in Bruges as a dancer in an opera company performingMeyerbeer’sRobert le diable.Without explaining his motivation, he gives her a scarf to put on and a lute, recreating a photograph of Marie. He asks her to sing a song that Marie used to sing (Lute Song, "Glück das mir verblieb"), joining in on the second verse, which ends with the wordsGlaub, es gibt ein Auferstehen(believe, there is a resurrection). They hear some of her opera company colleagues pass by in the street. Marietta wants to go wave at them but Paul stops her, fearing scandal if the neighbors should see her in his rooms. She dances for him ( "O Tanz, o Rausch"), but breaks off with the excuse that she must leave for rehearsal, hinting that he might seek and find her again. Paul meanwhile is driven into a state of extreme anxiety.

Torn between his loyalty to Marie and his interest in Marietta he collapses into a chair and begins to hallucinate. He sees Marie's ghost step out of her portrait. She urges him to admit he is tempted by the other woman.

Act 2

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From this point in the story until almost the end of the opera, the events are all part of a vision taking place in Paul's mind.

It is a moonlit evening. Paul is standing alongside a canal, outside the solitary house where Marietta lives. The door is locked. He has given in to his passion for her, though he views it as a sin. A group of nuns passes, among whom is Brigitta dressed as a novice. She tells Paul that she has left him because of his sin and passes on. Frank appears, and Paul realizes that they are rivals for Marietta's affection when Frank shows him he has the key to her house. Paul seizes the key from him and Frank passes on. Paul retreats to watch from a distance as boats come down the canal, bearing members of the opera company, among them Viktorin (the stage manager), Fritz (the Pierrot), Count Albert (a wealthy hanger-on) as well as others who all come off the boats. Viktorin sings a serenade to the still unseen Marietta. Marietta herself then appears and explains that she missed the rehearsal because she was not in the mood for it and had slipped away. She flirts with the Count. At her request, Fritz sings a nostalgic song ( "Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen"). Marietta proposes that they rehearse the notorious ballet fromRobert le diablein which nuns rise seductively from their graves, with herself as the head nun Helen. As they begin the enactment, Paul can bear it no longer and comes out of hiding to confront the group. Marietta defuses the situation by sending the others away. They have a tense quarrel during which Marietta finally realizes that Paul's obsession with her stems from her resemblance to his dead wife. She insists that he love her for herself; they go together to Paul's house where she intends to break the hold of the dead Marie.

Act 3

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Paul's vision continues. Back in his house, where he and Marietta have spent the night, it is the morning of a religious festival, theProcession of the Holy Bloodwhich is held on Ascension Day in Bruges. Paul watches the festival procession from a window in the Temple of the Past, but does not want Marietta alongside him for fear someone outside should see them together. In his anxiety Paul imagines the procession is passing through the room. Marietta is increasingly impatient and starts to taunt him by dancing seductively while stroking his dead wife's hair. In a rage, Paul grabs the lock of hair and strangles Marietta with it. Staring at her dead body, he exclaims "Now she is exactly like Marie."

Paul awakens from his vision and as he recognizes the real world around him, he is astonished that Marietta's body is nowhere to be found. Brigitta enters and informs him that Marietta has come back to pick up her umbrella which she left at the house when she departed just a few minutes earlier. Marietta enters, retrieves her umbrella and departs just as Frank returns as he had promised in Act I. Paul tells Frank he will not see Marietta again. Frank announces he is leaving Bruges, and asks if Paul will come too, to which he replies, "I will try". The opera ends with Paul's reprise of "Glück, das mir verblieb",with the last words now" Here, there is no resurrection ". Paul gives the room a farewell glance as the curtain falls.

Recordings

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References

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  1. ^abcCarroll, Brendan G.; Pauly, Reinhard G.,The Last Prodigy: A Biography of Erich Wolfgang Korngold,Amadeus Press, Portland, 1997, pp. 121–3.
  2. ^Schoenberg, Harold C. (3 April 1975)."City Opera 'Tote Stadt' Exploits Film Technique".New York Times.Retrieved17 July2024.
  3. ^Casaglia, Gherardo (2005)."Die tote Stadt".L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia(in Italian).
  4. ^Millington, Barry (27 March 2023)."The Dead City at the London Coliseum review: ENO's lyrical ode to grief is almost unbearably poignant".Evening Standard.Retrieved17 July2024.
  5. ^McCallum, Peter (2 July 2012)."No forgotten masterpiece but this city is worth a visit".The Sydney Morning Herald.Retrieved17 July2024.
  6. ^Schott, Paul.The Dead City: Opera in Three Acts Founded on G. Rodenbach's Das Trugbild.Program Publishing Company, New York, no date.
  7. ^Die tote StadtArchived2008-05-11 at theWayback Machine,Opera Todaysite with synopsis and MP3 recording (there it is said to be a live performance, but no trace of auditorium noise or applause can be heard).
  8. ^"2013/2014シーズンオペラ “Tử の đô” ｜ tân quốc lập kịch tràng ".www.nntt.jac.go.jp.

Further reading

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