Die Gezeichneten

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Die Gezeichneten (The Branded or The Stigmatized) is an opera in three acts by Franz Schreker with a libretto by the composer.

Composition history

Schreker wrote the libretto in 1911 at the request of Alexander Zemlinsky based on the play Hidalla by German playwright Frank Wedekind.[1] However, Schreker decided to set the text himself and completed the composition in 1915.

The score is currently published by Universal Edition Vienna.[2]

Performance history

The Alte Oper in Frankfurt 1880-1945

An expanded concert version of the overture to the opera, entitled Vorspiel zu einem Drama, was performed at the Vienna Musikverein on 8 February 1914 by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Felix Weingartner.[3]

The complete opera was first performed on 25 April 1918 by the Frankfurt Opera in the Alte Oper, conducted by Ludwig Rottenberg.[4][5] It established Schreker as the pre-eminent opera composer of his generation and won him the support of Germany's foremost music critic Paul Bekker. Before the composer's music was banned in 1933, due to his Jewish ancestry, a further two dozen productions followed in fifteen different cities in Germany and Austria.[6] The playbill of the first performance in Vienna, in January 1920, mentions 66 previous performances of the opera in five different opera houses (Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Munich, Dresden and Breslau).[7]

Conductor Michael Gielen revived the opera at the Frankfurt Opera in 1979.[8] In the performance, which was recorded, William Cochran appeared as Alviano Salvago, Barry Mora as Tamare, June Card as Carlotta, and Günter Reich as the Duke.[1]

A major staging took place at the Salzburg Festival in 2005, directed by Nikolaus Lehnhoff and conducted by Kent Nagano with Robert Brubaker (Alviano) and Anne Schwanewilms (Carlotta) in the leading roles, although the opera was heavily cut for this production.

The American premiere was staged at the Los Angeles Opera on 10 April 2010, followed by three more performances.[9] James Conlon conducted and Robert Brubaker (Alviano), Anja Kampe (Carlotta) and Martin Gantner (Tamare) sang the principal roles. This event was hailed by critics as the first ever performance of a Schreker opera in the Western Hemisphere.[10]

Also in April 2010 it was performed six times at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo in a production by Graham Vick.[11]

Roles

Role[2] Voice type Premiere Cast[4]
25 April 1918
(Conductor: Ludwig Rottenberg)
Duke Antoniotto Adorno bass Walter Schneider
Count Vitelozzo Tamare baritone Robert vom Scheidt
Lodovico Nardi, Podestà bass Willy Roos
Carlotta Nardi, his daughter soprano Else Gentner-Fischer
Alviano Salvago, a Genoan nobleman tenor Karl Ziegler
Guidobald Usodimare, a Genoan nobleman tenor Hermann Schramm
Menaldo Negroni, a Genoan nobleman tenor Erik Wirl
Michelotto Cibo, a Genoan nobleman baritone Rudolf Brinkmann
Gonsalvo Fieschi, a Genoan nobleman baritone Fritz Meurs
Julian Pinelli, a Genoan nobleman bass Josef Gareis
Paolo Calvi, a Genoan nobleman bass Josef Gareis
Capitaneo di Giustizia bass Leo Kaplan
Ginevra Scotti soprano Marta Uersfeld
Martuccia, Alviano's housekeeper contralto Marie Welling-Bertram
Pietro, a cutthroat tenor
A youth tenor Franz Wartenberg
His friend bass Willy Schürmann
A young girl soprano Elisabeth Kandt
First senator tenor Erik Wirl
Second senator baritone Rudolf Brinkmann
Third senator bass Josef Gareis
A servant bass
A maidservant mezzo-soprano Anita Franz
First citizen tenor
Second citizen baritone Carl Bauermann
Third citizen bass Willy Schürmann
Father bass Paul Neumann
Mother contralto Frieda Hammerschmidt
A small boy, (silent part)
First young man tenor Franz Wartenberg
Second young man baritone Carl Bauermann
Third young man bass Willy Schürmann
A giant citizen bass Karl Kröff

Instrumentation

The orchestral score requires:

Synopsis

The opera is set in 16th-century Genoa

Act 1

The young Genoan nobleman Alviano Salviago, hunchbacked and deformed, has renounced the love of women. He wants to donate to the people of Genoa the island paradise called "Elysium" he has created. His friends, a group of dissolute young noblemen, have been using an underground grotto on the island to celebrate orgies with young women abducted from prominent Genoan families, and intervene with Duke Adorno to stop the transfer of ownership. One of them, Count Tamare, has set his sights on Carlotta, daughter of the Podestà. Carlotta rejects him, as she is only interested in Salviago, whose soul she wants to paint.

Act 2

Infuriated by Carlotta's rejection, Tamare swears to Adorno that he will take her by force. He also reveals the secret of the grotto. In order to avoid the consequences of this secret becoming public, Adorno agrees to vetoing the transfer. While Salviago is sitting for Carlotta, she tries to bring out his soul, applying all her female charms. Salviago misinterprets these signs and thinks she is in love with him.

Act 3

The citizens of Genoa take possession of the island. Salviago asks the Podestà for Carlotta's hand in marriage. She evades him, wanders off alone, and in the grotto finally succumbs to Tamare. The Duke accuses Salviago of masterminding the abductions. Salviago, besides himself with worry for Carlotta, leads everyone to the underground grotto. Carlotta lies senseless on a bed, while Tamare prides himself on his conquering abilities. Salviago stabs him. Carlotta awakens, Salviago rushes to her side, but with her dying breath she calls for Tamare. Salviago, completely deranged, stumbles over Tamare's body as he makes his way through the stunned crowd.

Recordings

  • In 2003 ORFEO released a 1984 live recording from the Salzburger Festspiele, with Gerd Albrecht conducting the Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien.[13]

References

Notes
  1. 1.0 1.1 "Die Gezeichneten". operone.com. 2010. Retrieved 12 August 2010. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Franz Schreker - Die Gezeichneten, opera in 3 acts". Universal Edition. Retrieved 31 July 2010. 
  3. "Musical events 8 February 1914". AmadeusOnline. 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2010. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 "Musical events 25 April 1918". Italy: Amadeusonline. Retrieved 31 July 2010. 
  5. "Chronology". Franz Schreker Foundation. Retrieved 8 August 2010. 
  6. Hailey 1993, p. ??
  7. 7.0 7.1 (Release notes). Die Gezeichneten. Franz Schreker. 444442-2.
  8. Peters, Rainer (2010). "The Ernst von Siemens Music Prize-Winner Michael Gielen". Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung. Retrieved 12 August 2010. 
  9. "L.A.Opera: Productions - The Stigmatized". Los Angeles Opera. 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2010. 
  10. "Opera review: Franz Schreker's "The Stigmatized"". Los Angeles Times. April 2010. Retrieved 3 August 2010. 
  11. "Performances of Die Gezeichneten by city". Operabase.com. 2010. Retrieved 5 August 2010. 
  12. "On-line catalogue entry Franz Schreker Die Gezeichneten". Decca. Retrieved 28 August 2012. 
  13. Rob Barnett (February 2003). "Franz Schreker: Die Gezeichneten". MusicWeb International. Retrieved 31 July 2010. 
Sources
  • Batta, András, Opera - Komponisten, Werke, Interpreten Könemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, 2000, (Dutch translation)
  • Hailey, Christopher, Franz Schreker: A cultural biography Cambridge University Press, 1993
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