Die Frau ohne Schatten
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| Operas by Richard Strauss |
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Guntram (1894) |
Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman without a Shadow) is an opera in three acts by Richard Strauss with a libretto by his long-time collaborator, the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal. When the work premiered in Vienna on 10 October 1919, critics and audiences were unenthusiastic (many cited problems with Hofmannsthal's complicated and heavily symbolic libretto). Today, the opera is considered by many to be Strauss's finest work in the genre, although less frequently produced than some of the others.
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[edit] Background of the Opera
Work on the opera began in 1911. Hofmannsthal’s earliest sketches for the libretto are based on a piece by Goethe, “The Conversation of German Emigrants” (1795). Hofmannsthal handles Goethe’s material freely, adding the idea of two couples, the emperor and empress who come from another realm, and the dyer and his wife who belong to the ordinary world. Hofmannsthal also drew on portions of the Arabian Nights, Grimm's Fairy Tales, and even quotes Goethe's Faust. The opera is conceived as a fairy-tale on the theme of love blessed through the birth of children. Hofmannsthal, in his letters, compared it with Mozart’s Magic Flute, which has a similar arrangement of two couples.
Strauss began composing immediately. He and Hofmannsthal worked on music and words in parallel, each receiving inspiration from the other. Strauss was happy with Hofmannsthal’s text, but asked him to rewrite many passages for the sake of dramatic effect. The opera was finished in 1915, during the First World War, but had to wait for its premiere till 1919. The sometimes difficult genesis of the opera is documented in their correspondence.
Strauss himself called this opera his “child of woe.” The complexity of the text and the stress of wartime made its composition a laborious task, and Strauss was also disappointed with the first productions.
Musically, Die Frau ohne Schatten is one of Strauss’s most complicated and colorful scores. In contrast to the quickly-moving Salome and Elektra, it includes extended monologues and scenes. The opera remains a challenge to stage, even for a major opera house, calling as it does for five soloists in the demanding principal roles, a large orchestra, and elaborate sets and scenic effects.
Scenically, it is also demanding, with all the scene changes and special effects. Children singing out of a frying pan is particularly demanding, as is the final golden waterfall scene. Few opera houses are capable of staging the work.
In 1946 Strauss created a one-movement orchestral piece, the Fantasy on Die Frau ohne Schatten, based on high points from the opera. It was premiered in Vienna in 1947.
[edit] Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere, October 10, 1919 (Franz Schalk) |
|---|---|---|
| The Emperor (Der Kaiser) | tenor | Karl-Aagaard Oestvig |
| The Empress (Die Kaiserin), Keikobad's daughter | high dramatic soprano | Maria Jeritza |
| The Nurse (Die Amme), her guardian | dramatic mezzo-soprano or contralto |
Lucie Weidt |
| Barak, the Dyer (Barak, der Färber) | bass-baritone | Richard Mayr |
| The Dyer's Wife (Die Färberin) | high dramatic soprano | Lotte Lehmann |
| The One-eyed Man (Der Einäugige), Barak's brother | high bass | Viktor Madin |
| The One-Armed Man (Der Einarmige), Barak's brother | bass | Julius Betetto |
| The Hunchback (Der Bucklige), Barak's brother | high tenor | Anton Arnold |
| The Messenger of Keikobad | high baritone | Josef von Manowarda |
| The Voice of a Falcon | soprano | Felicie Hüni-Mihacsek |
| The Apparition of a Youth | high tenor | Elisabeth Schumann |
| The Guardian of the Threshold | soprano or countertenor |
Sybilla Blei |
| A Voice From Above | contralto | Maria Olczewska |
| Voices of Six Unborn Children (Sechs Kinderstimmen) | three sopranos, three baritones | |
| Voices of Three Town Watchmen (Stimmen Der Wächter Der Stadt) | baritones | |
| Servants of the Empress, other children and beggar-children, spirit-servants and spirit-voices | ||
The role of the Empress calls for a dramatic soprano who is also capable of extended coloratura passages containing trills, runs, and a high D (and that's just her first solo in Act One). Similarly, any tenor attempting the Emperor must be able to handle numerous passages in his uppermost range, particularly his extended solo scene in Act Two. The Nurse role sits mostly in the contralto range, but makes frequent leaps above the staff. The Dyer's Wife also calls for a soprano with immense sound to be heard over heavily orchestrated passages. The Dyer is the most approachable of the leading vocal parts, but again the orchestration is very heavy and requires a baritone with sufficient stamina to last the opera's three hours and fifteen minutes.
[edit] Synopsis
The opera's story is set in the mythical empire of the Southeastern Islands and involves five principal characters: the Emperor (tenor), the Empress (soprano), her Nurse (mezzo-soprano or contralto), Barak, a lowly dyer (bass-baritone), and the Dyer's Wife, (dramatic soprano). A sixth character, Keikobad, King of the Spirit Realm and father to the Empress, sets the plot in motion, but never appears on stage. The Empress is not human: she was captured by the Emperor in the form of a gazelle. She assumed human shape and he married her, but she has no shadow. This symbolizes her inability to bear children. Keikobad has decreed that unless the Empress gains a shadow before the end of the twelfth moon, she will be reclaimed by her father and the Emperor will turn to stone.
[edit] Act 1
Scene 1
It is dawn, outside the bedchambers of the Emperor and Empress. The Messenger of Keikobad arrives, and tells the Empress's Nurse that the Empress must acquire a shadow within three days, or will be forcibly returned to him, and the Emperor turned to stone. The Messenger leaves and the Emperor emerges from his bedchamber. He departs on a three-day hunting trip, seeking his favorite falcon, which he drove away for attacking the gazelle. He leaves his wife to the Nurse's care. The Nurse, who is steeped in magic, suggests descending to the mortal world and finding a woman who will sell her shadow to the Empress.
Scene 2
Barak, the Dyer, shares his hut with his Wife and his three brothers: the One-Eyed Man, the One-Armed Man, and the Hunchback. The brothers-in-law argue with the Wife. The Dyer desires children, but his Wife fears the responsibility. The Dyer and his brothers leave, and the Empress and the Nurse arrive in disguise. The Nurse conjures up visions of luxury and promises them to the Wife in return for her shadow. The Wife agrees to deny her husband for three days during which the Nurse and the Empress will live at the Dyer's hut as servants. The Nurse and Empress disappear, while the Wife hears the offstage Voices of Unborn Children lamenting. The Dyer returns, to find he is barred from his marital bed; he hears the Town Watchmen sing of conjugal love.
[edit] Act 2
The Empress, acting as a servant, helps the Dyer leave for work, but is troubled by her role. The Nurse conjures up the image of a handsome youth, which tempts the Dyer's Wife. The Dyer returns with his hungry brothers and beggar children.
In a brief interlude, the Emperor sees the Empress and Nurse surreptitiously enter his hunting lodge, and is suspicious.
At the Dyer's house, the Dyer is drugged into sleep. The Nurse again conjures up the young man for the Wife, who grows anxious and rouses the Dyer. The Empress goes to sleep, but in her sleep she is further troubled by her crime and by the possible fate of the Emperor. The Wife gives up her shadow. When light reveals that she has no shadow, the Dyer moves to strike her with a sword that appears in his hand, but they are both swallowed into the earth. A river floods into the house, and the Empress and Nurse depart on a magic boat.
[edit] Act 3
Scene 1
In a grotto beneath the realm of Keikobad, the Wife is haunted by the Voices of Unborn Children. She protests that she loves the Dyer, who regrets his attempted violence. A voice directs them up a staircase.
Scene 2
The Empress and Nurse arrive before the Temple. Keikobad's Messenger condemns the Nurse to wander the mortal world. The Empress enters the Temple, and finds the Emperor already almost petrified. A voice urges her to drink of the Fountain of Life, which is there, and gain the Wife's shadow. But the Dyer and the Wife are heard offstage, and the Empress refuses to take their future happiness from them, singing "I - will - not!" This act of renunciation frees her: she has a shadow, and the Emperor is restored. The scene changes to a beautiful landscape, in which both couples sing of their humanity and praise their Unborn Children.
[edit] Orchestration
Opulent instrumentation includes:
- 4 flutes (2 doubling piccolo), 3 oboes (one doubling English horn), 4 clarinets, 2 bass clarinets, E-flat clarinet, 4 bassoons (1 doubling on contrabassoon)
- 8 French horns (4 doubling on 4 Wagner tubas), 6 trumpets, 4 trombones, bass tuba
- musical glasses, 4 timpani, 5 Chinese gongs, cymbals, snare drum, rute, xylophone, sleigh bells, bass drum, tenor drum, big field drum, triangle, tambourine, 2 castanets, tam-tam, whip (slapstick), xylophone, bells,
Other instruments
- strings (16 I violins, 16 II violins, 6 I violas, 6 II viola, 6 I celli, 6 II celli, 8 double basses), glass harmonica, 2 celestas, 2 harps, glockenspiel
- 2 flutes, oboe, 2 clarinets in C, bassoon, horn, 6 trumpets, 6 trombones, wind machine, thunder machine, organ, 4 tam-tams
On-stage
- Woodwind and horn may play in pit if necessary; two of the on-stage trumpets move to the pit for Act III, thus a total of 10 trumpets is required.
[edit] Sources
- Amadeus Almanac
- The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, by John Warrack and Ewan West (1992), 782 pages, ISBN 0-19-869164-5
- The Metropolitan Opera, Stories of the Operas
This article incorporates material from the German-language Wikipedia.
