Der Templer und die Jüdin

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Der Templer und die Jüdin (The Templar and the Jewess) is an opera (designated as a grosse romantische Oper) in three acts by Heinrich Marschner. The German libretto by Wilhelm August Wohlbrück was based on a number of intermediate works based in turn on Walter Scott's Ivanhoe.

Contents 1 Performance history 2 Roles 3 Synopsis 4 Sources 5 External sites

[edit] Performance history

The first performance took place at the Stadttheater in Leipzig on 22 December 1829. It became Marschner's most successful work and was staged more than 200 times in Germany during the next 70 years.

A revised version with recitatives rather than spoken dialogue was performed in Berlin on 3 August 1831 with Eduard Devrient as Bois-Guilbert. It was given in London at the Prince's Theatre on 17 June 1840, and in New York on 29 January 1872.

Many critics regarded the opera as unnecessarily complicated (and expensive to produce) and simplified versions were prepared by Felix Mottl, Richard Kleinmichel and finally Hans Pfitzner (1912). The latter's version was performed in Lübeck, Strasbourg and Cologne just before the First World War.

The opera was revived at the Wexford Festival in 1989, conducted by Albert Rosen and directed by Francesca Zambello with William Stone as Bois-Guilbert.

[edit] Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 22 December, 1829 (Conductor: Heinrich Marschner)
Brian de Bois-Guilbert, Templar	baritone	Heinrich Hammermeister
Friar Tuck, Hermit of Copmanhurst	bass	Wilhelm Fischer
Cedric von Rotherwood, Saxon knight	bass	Wilhelm Pögner
The Black Knight (King Richard I)	bass	Eduard Schütz
Lokslei, the outlaw leader	baritone
Lucas de Beaumanoir, Knights Templar Grand Master	bass
Maurice de Bracy, Norman knight	tenor
Rebecca, the Jewess, daughter of Isaac of York	soprano	Fortunata Franchetti-Wazel
Rowena von Hargottstandstede, ward of Cedric	soprano	Henriette Wüst
Wamba, a fool	tenor	August Wiedemann
Wilfried von Ivanhoe, son of Cedric	tenor	Ubrich
Oswald, Cedric's steward	bass
Albert Malvoisin, Norman knight	spoken
Conrad, Malvoisin's squire	spoken
Elgitha, Rowena's maid	spoken
Isaac of York, a Jew	spoken
Walter, an outlaw	spoken
Willibald, an outlaw	spoken
Robert, Bois-Guilbert's squire	spoken
Philip, Bois-Guilbert's squire	spoken
Herdibert	spoken

[edit] Synopsis

The opera is set in England at the end of the 12th century and the main characters include The Black Knight, King Richard 'the Lionheart', Saxons, Normans, Templars and Robin Hood (here called Lokslei, i.e. Locksley) and his band of outlaws.

[edit] Sources

• Amadeus Almanac
• Palmer, A Dean (1992), 'Templer und die Jüdin, Der' in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London) ISBN 0-333-73432-7

[edit] External sites

• Synopsis by Charles Annesley in The Standard Operaglass 13th ed, 1896
• Synopsis by A Dean Palmer
• German libretto (Stanford)