Die Feen
Encyclopedia
Die Feen is an opera
in three acts by Richard Wagner
. The German libretto
was written by the composer after Carlo Gozzi
's La donna serpente.
Die Feen was Wagner's first completed opera, but remained unperformed in his lifetime. It has never established itself firmly in the operatic repertory although it receives occasional performances, on stage or in concert, most often in Germany. The opera is available in multiple versions on CD; however, it has never been available on video. Additionally, the overture has an independent life as an orchestral piece.
Although the music of Die Feen shows the influences of Carl Maria von Weber
and other composers of the time, commentators have recognised embryonic features of the mature Wagnerian opera. The fantasy plot also anticipates themes such as redemption that were to reappear in his later works.
Die Feen was Wagner's first completed opera
, composed in 1833, when he was 20 years old and working as a part-time chorus master in Würzburg
. He gave it the description of Grosse romantische Oper (grand romantic opera). The year before he started composition, Wagner had abandoned his first attempt at writing an opera, Die Hochzeit
(The Wedding). There were a number of difficulties facing new German-language opera in the 1830s. First there was deemed to be a lack of good quality libretti to set. This may have influenced Wagner's decision to write the libretto for Die Feen himself. Second, there was a fear among the authorities in Germany and Austria that the performance of operas in German would attract nationalist and revolutionary followers. This would have added to the difficulties faced by a novice composer seeking an opportunity for his new opera to be performed.
Wagner revised the score of Die Feen in 1834, when he hoped for a production. Among the changes in the 1834 version was the rewriting from scratch of Ada's grand scene Weh' mir, so nah' die fürchterliche Stunde. However, it remained unperformed during his lifetime .
Although Gozzi's La donna serpente was the source for Wagner's plot, he took the names of Die Feens two principal characters, Ada and Arindal, from Die Hochzeit. The libretto also introduced a fantastic theme that was not in the original play. The libretto displays themes and patterns that were to recur in Wagner's more mature works. These include redemption, a mysterious stranger demanding that their lover not ask who they are, and long expository narratives.
Wagner personally gave the original manuscript
of Die Feen to King Ludwig II of Bavaria
. The manuscript was later given as a gift to Adolf Hitler
, and perished with him in flames in the Berlin bunker
in the final days of World War II.
on 29 June 1888 with a cast including several singers who had created roles in Wagner's later operas. It is the only Wagner opera
that has not been recorded for broadcast
television or video
. There are some audio recordings, the one with the best known performers being a live performance conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch
as part of the celebrations of the centenary of the composer's death.
The English premiere was in Birmingham
on 17 May 1969 and the American concert premiere
was at the New York City Opera
on 24 February 1982. The opera continues to receive performances, particularly in Germany, for example, a strongly cast concert performance in 2003, and two new productions opening within a week of each other in 2005. In 2009, the opera premiered in France at the Théâtre du Châtelet
in Paris. The US staged premiere was held by Lyric Opera of Los Angeles
on 11 June 2010, conducted by Robert Sage at the Pasadena Playhouse
.
In a rocky wilderness Morald and Gunther meet Gernot. The former pair have been sent to find out what has happened to Arindal, who disappeared eight years ago. In the mean time his father, the king, has died from grief and the kingdom is being attacked by their enemy Murold who demands they surrender Arindal's sister Lora as his wife. Gernot relates how he and Arindal had hunted a beautiful doe to a river where it vanished. They heard a voice and jumped into the river where they found a beautiful woman in luxurious surroundings. She declared her love for Arindal and said they could stay together provided Arindal could go eight years without asking who she is. But the day before he did ask her, and Arindal and Gernot found themselves in the wilderness. Morald and Gunther depart before Arindal can know of their presence. Arindal appears and sings of his grief at the loss of Ada (Wo find ich dich, wo wird mir Trost?). Gernot tries to argue him round to believing that Ada is a sorceress who has abandoned him and that he should return to his kingdom. He sings of an evil witch who had disguised herself as a beautiful woman (War einst 'ne böse Hexe wohl). Gunther returns, disguised as a priest, and continues the attempt to persuade Arindal that he will be turned into a wild beast by the witch unless he returns at once; Morald similarly disguises himself as the ghost of Arindal's father and announces that his kingdom is threatened. Each disguise is magically destroyed just as Arindal is about to be convinced. However, the three are finally able to persuade him of his country's need. They agree to depart in the morning, although Arindal fears he will not see Ada again. When he is left alone he falls into an enchanted sleep.
The scene changes again to a fairy garden with a palace in the background out of which Ada comes. She sings of how she is willing to sacrifice her immortality and pay the price, however hard it is, necessary to win Arindal (Wie muss ich doch beklagen). Arindal awakens and declares his joy at seeing Ada again, but she announces that he will abandon her the next day. Gernot, Gunther and Morald arrive with companions to fetch Arindal. Those who have not seen her before are struck by Ada's beauty and fear Arindal will not come. A procession of fairies comes out of the palace and Zemina and Farzana tell Ada that her father has died and she is now queen. Ada tells Arindal that they must part now but she will see him tomorrow. She asks him to swear that whatever happens he will not curse her. He swears it even though she takes back her request. She expresses her fear that they will both go under as a result of his breaking the oath.
Ada is with Zemina and Farzana. She complains to them of how they heartlessly drive her on. They, however, express hope that she will renounce Arindal and remain immortal. She sings (Weh' mir, so nah' die fürchterlische Stunde) of her fears that Arindal will be cursed with madness and death, and she with being turned to a statue, but then expresses hope that Arindal's love will prove strong.
Gernot and Gunther talk of the terrible omens of the night and morning. Gernot asks Gunther if Drolla is still beautiful and still loyal to him. Gunther says he believes so but says Gernot should ask her himself as she is nearby. Gernot and Drolla test each other with stories of the many people who love them. Each becomes jealous before they realise that they both truly love each other.
Battle is raging outside. Arindal is anxious and refuses to lead the army out. Morald does so instead. Ada appears with her two children by Arindal. She seems to throw them into a fiery abyss. Meanwhile defeated warriors rush in. Ada refuses to console Arindal saying she has come to torment him instead. More defeated warriors arrive with reports that Morald has disappeared, captured or dead. Then Harald, who was sent to bring reinforcements, comes. He reports that his army was defeated by one led by Ada. Arindal curses her. Zemina and Farzana express joy that Ada will remain immortal. But she sorrowfully explains that the fairy-king had required as a condition of her renouncing her immortality, that she conceal her fairy background from Arindal for eight years and on the last day torment him as best she can. If he cursed her, she would remain immortal and be turned to stone for a hundred years while he would go mad and die. In truth, Morald is not dead, the army Harald led was full of traitors, and the children are still alive. Already Arindal can feel his sanity slipping.
Arindal is hallucinating that he is hunting a doe. As it is killed, he realises it is his wife. He continues to experience visions (Ich seh' den Himmel) before falling asleep. The voice of the petrified but weeping Ada is heard calling for him. Then the voice of Groma calls to him too. A sword, shield and lyre appear which Groma says can win Arindal victory and a greater reward. Zemina and Farzana, enter. The former expresses her pity for Arindal while the latter says he deserves punishment for seeking to take Ada from them. They wake him and announce they will lead him to Ada to rescue her. He expresses his willingness to die for her. The two fairies hope this will actually happen.
They lead Arindal to a portal guarded by earth spirits. He is about to be defeated when the voice of Groma reminds him of the shield. The earth spirits disappear when he holds it up. The fairies express their surprise but are sure he will not triumph again. Meanwhile he thanks Groma's power. Next they encounter bronze men who guard a holy sanctuary. The shield fails Arindal but when Groma advises him to hold up the sword, the bronze men vanish. The fairies again express their surprise whilst Groma's spirit urges Arindal on. They now have reached a grotto where Ada has been turned to stone. The two fairies taunt Arindal with the threat that failure will mean that he too is turned to stone. But the voice of Groma urges him to play the lyre. When he does so (O ihr, des Busens Hochgefühle), Ada is freed from the stone. The two fairies realise that Groma is responsible.
The scene changes to the fairy king's throne room. He has decided to grant Arindal immortality. Ada invites him to rule her fairyland with her. Arindal grants his mortal kingdom to Morald and Lora. Everyone rejoices; even Zemina and Farzana are happy now that Ada remains immortal.
. According to Danilo Prefumo's notes to one of the recordings available, it also showed the influence of Italian opera, grand opera
and opéra comique
. On the other hand, Alan Blyth
, Gramophone's regular Wagner reviewer, sees both Weber and Marschner as influences but says that, by avoiding the aping of Italian opera in Das Liebesverbot
and of grand opera in Rienzi
, the result was an opera more stylistically unified than its successors. "The later works may contain individual passages that are more 'advanced' than anything in the youthfully imitative ways of Die Feen, but as entities they are less satisfying."
In The New York Times
, critic John Rockwell
acknowledges the presence of passages imitative of Weber and Marschner but says that there are "wonderfully original passages too... Some of the instrumental writing is exquisite. And especially in the final two acts, there are ensembles and scenes of undeniable strength of personality. This is not some quaint antiquarian resurrection, but an opera that can work for today's audiences on stage." Blyth is less wholehearted in his support. In 1984, he wrote "The libretto is impossibly awkward, its language stilted, many of its musical structures ill-considered, but much is enjoyable in its own right as much as for the enjoyment in discovering seeds of future triumphs." But fifteen years later he was writing that the work's interest lay only in its evidence of the mature composer, "on its own account it's a bit of a bore."
The Weberian overture in E Major, the key in which the opera begins and ends, includes many of the opera's principal themes. The work as a whole does not have the complex chains of melody
and chromatic
harmony
that distinguished the composer's mature works. However, there is already a tendency in the opera to move away from a strict numbers form and to present the singers with long challenging passages. Recurring themes or simple leitmotif
s associated with characters and situations already show a tendency towards something that Wagner would later use in a far more sophisticated manner in his mature works. Another anticipation of the composer's mature manner is how orchestra often carries the tune while vocal parts are declamatory. Of the various arias, Blyth picks out Ada's "huge Act 2 scene, which calls for a genuine dramatic soprano" noting that Birgit Nilsson
had recorded it. He sees the ensembles as anticipating Tannhäuser
and Lohengrin
but picks out "the delightful buffo duet for Gernot... and Drolla", saying it looks forward more to Das Liebesverbot "except that it surpasses in unassuming tunefulness anything in the following score".
Conductors who have recorded the overture include Francesco D'Avalos (Asv Living Era B0000030XD), Marek Janowski
(Angel B00005UVAN), Franz Konwitschny
(Archipel ARPCD0239), Alexander Rahbari (Naxos B0001Z65J4), Alois Springer (Vox B000001KAH) and Hans Swarowsky
(Vox B000001KD3).
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
in three acts by Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
. The German libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
was written by the composer after Carlo Gozzi
Carlo Gozzi
Carlo, Count Gozzi was an Italian playwright.Born in Venice, he came from an old Venetian family from the Republic of Ragusa...
's La donna serpente.
Die Feen was Wagner's first completed opera, but remained unperformed in his lifetime. It has never established itself firmly in the operatic repertory although it receives occasional performances, on stage or in concert, most often in Germany. The opera is available in multiple versions on CD; however, it has never been available on video. Additionally, the overture has an independent life as an orchestral piece.
Although the music of Die Feen shows the influences of Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school....
and other composers of the time, commentators have recognised embryonic features of the mature Wagnerian opera. The fantasy plot also anticipates themes such as redemption that were to reappear in his later works.
Background and composition
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, composed in 1833, when he was 20 years old and working as a part-time chorus master in Würzburg
Würzburg
Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....
. He gave it the description of Grosse romantische Oper (grand romantic opera). The year before he started composition, Wagner had abandoned his first attempt at writing an opera, Die Hochzeit
Die Hochzeit
Die Hochzeit is an unfinished opera by Richard Wagner which predates all his completed works in the genre. Wagner completed the libretto, then started composing the music in the second half of 1832 when he was just nineteen...
(The Wedding). There were a number of difficulties facing new German-language opera in the 1830s. First there was deemed to be a lack of good quality libretti to set. This may have influenced Wagner's decision to write the libretto for Die Feen himself. Second, there was a fear among the authorities in Germany and Austria that the performance of operas in German would attract nationalist and revolutionary followers. This would have added to the difficulties faced by a novice composer seeking an opportunity for his new opera to be performed.
Wagner revised the score of Die Feen in 1834, when he hoped for a production. Among the changes in the 1834 version was the rewriting from scratch of Ada's grand scene Weh' mir, so nah' die fürchterliche Stunde. However, it remained unperformed during his lifetime .
Although Gozzi's La donna serpente was the source for Wagner's plot, he took the names of Die Feens two principal characters, Ada and Arindal, from Die Hochzeit. The libretto also introduced a fantastic theme that was not in the original play. The libretto displays themes and patterns that were to recur in Wagner's more mature works. These include redemption, a mysterious stranger demanding that their lover not ask who they are, and long expository narratives.
Wagner personally gave the original manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
of Die Feen to King Ludwig II of Bavaria
Ludwig II of Bavaria
Ludwig II was King of Bavaria from 1864 until shortly before his death. He is sometimes called the Swan King and der Märchenkönig, the Fairy tale King...
. The manuscript was later given as a gift to Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, and perished with him in flames in the Berlin bunker
Bunker
A military bunker is a hardened shelter, often buried partly or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks...
in the final days of World War II.
Performance and recording history
Die Feen was premiered in MunichMunich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
on 29 June 1888 with a cast including several singers who had created roles in Wagner's later operas. It is the only Wagner opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
that has not been recorded for broadcast
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
television or video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
. There are some audio recordings, the one with the best known performers being a live performance conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch
Wolfgang Sawallisch
Wolfgang Sawallisch is a retired German conductor and pianist.-Biography:Sawallisch was born in Munich, and studied composition and pianoforte there privately: at the conclusion of the war, in 1946 he continued his studies at the Munich High School for Music and passed his final examination for...
as part of the celebrations of the centenary of the composer's death.
The English premiere was in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
on 17 May 1969 and the American concert premiere
Premiere
A premiere is generally "a first performance". This can refer to plays, films, television programs, operas, symphonies, ballets and so on. Premieres for theatrical, musical and other cultural presentations can become extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media...
was at the New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
on 24 February 1982. The opera continues to receive performances, particularly in Germany, for example, a strongly cast concert performance in 2003, and two new productions opening within a week of each other in 2005. In 2009, the opera premiered in France at the Théâtre du Châtelet
Théâtre du Châtelet
The Théâtre du Châtelet is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France.One of two theatres built on the site of a châtelet, a small castle or fortress, it was designed by Gabriel Davioud at the request of Baron Haussmann between 1860 and...
in Paris. The US staged premiere was held by Lyric Opera of Los Angeles
Lyric Opera of Los Angeles
Lyric Opera of Los Angeles is a small non-profit opera company in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 2002 by Laura Sage and features lesser known opera works that have rarely been made into staged productions. Lyric Opera of Los Angeles has since put on several premiere productions...
on 11 June 2010, conducted by Robert Sage at the Pasadena Playhouse
Pasadena Playhouse
The Pasadena Playhouse is a historic performing arts venue located 39 S El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, California. The 686-seat auditorium produces a variety of cultural and artistic events, professional shows, and community engagements each year.-History:...
.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 29 June 1888 (Conductor: Franz Fischer) |
|---|---|---|
| The Fairy King | bass | Victorine Blank |
| Ada, a fairy | soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Lili Dressler |
| Zemina, a fairy | soprano | Pauline Sigler |
| Farzana, a fairy | soprano | Marie Sigler |
| Arindal, King of Tramond | tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
Max Mikorey |
| Lora, his sister | soprano | Adrienne Weitz |
| Morald, her betrothed | baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... |
Rudolf Fuchs |
| Gunther, a courtier from Tramond | tenor | Heinrich Herrmann |
| Gernot, Arindal's friend | bass | Gustav Siehr |
| Drolla, Lora's friend | soprano | Emilie Herzog |
| Harald, General of Groma the magician | bass | Kaspar Bausewein Kaspar Bausewein Kaspar Bausewein was a German operatic bass who was active at the Bavarian State Opera from 1858 through 1900. While there he notably portrayed several characters in the world premieres of operas composed by Richard Wagner... |
| A messenger | tenor | Max Schlosser Max Schlosser (tenor) Max Karl Schlosser was a German opera singer.A tenor for most of his career, he later sang as a baritone and is remembered today for his character roles in Wagner's operas... |
| Voice of Groma the Magician | bass | |
Act 1
While other fairies amuse themselves in a fairy garden, Zemina and Farzana discuss how their mistress Ada, a half-fairy, has renounced her immortality to spend her life with the mortal whom she loves. The fairy-king has set a condition which Farzana believes that Arindal will not fulfil even with the help of the magician Groma. Nevertheless, they get the other fairies and spirits to pledge their help in separating Ada from the mortal.In a rocky wilderness Morald and Gunther meet Gernot. The former pair have been sent to find out what has happened to Arindal, who disappeared eight years ago. In the mean time his father, the king, has died from grief and the kingdom is being attacked by their enemy Murold who demands they surrender Arindal's sister Lora as his wife. Gernot relates how he and Arindal had hunted a beautiful doe to a river where it vanished. They heard a voice and jumped into the river where they found a beautiful woman in luxurious surroundings. She declared her love for Arindal and said they could stay together provided Arindal could go eight years without asking who she is. But the day before he did ask her, and Arindal and Gernot found themselves in the wilderness. Morald and Gunther depart before Arindal can know of their presence. Arindal appears and sings of his grief at the loss of Ada (Wo find ich dich, wo wird mir Trost?). Gernot tries to argue him round to believing that Ada is a sorceress who has abandoned him and that he should return to his kingdom. He sings of an evil witch who had disguised herself as a beautiful woman (War einst 'ne böse Hexe wohl). Gunther returns, disguised as a priest, and continues the attempt to persuade Arindal that he will be turned into a wild beast by the witch unless he returns at once; Morald similarly disguises himself as the ghost of Arindal's father and announces that his kingdom is threatened. Each disguise is magically destroyed just as Arindal is about to be convinced. However, the three are finally able to persuade him of his country's need. They agree to depart in the morning, although Arindal fears he will not see Ada again. When he is left alone he falls into an enchanted sleep.
The scene changes again to a fairy garden with a palace in the background out of which Ada comes. She sings of how she is willing to sacrifice her immortality and pay the price, however hard it is, necessary to win Arindal (Wie muss ich doch beklagen). Arindal awakens and declares his joy at seeing Ada again, but she announces that he will abandon her the next day. Gernot, Gunther and Morald arrive with companions to fetch Arindal. Those who have not seen her before are struck by Ada's beauty and fear Arindal will not come. A procession of fairies comes out of the palace and Zemina and Farzana tell Ada that her father has died and she is now queen. Ada tells Arindal that they must part now but she will see him tomorrow. She asks him to swear that whatever happens he will not curse her. He swears it even though she takes back her request. She expresses her fear that they will both go under as a result of his breaking the oath.
Act 2
The people and warriors in Arindal's capital are panicking because they are under attack. Lora berates them, saying that she herself stands firm even though she has lost father, brother and lover. She reminds them of Groma's prophecy that the kingdom will not fall if Arindal returns, but the chorus express doubts. Just as she begins to fear that they are right (O musst du Hoffnung schwinden), a messenger arrives to announce that Arindal is on his way. The new king is greeted joyously by his people, but Arindal himself expresses his fears that he is not strong enough for battle. Meanwhile Morald and Lora express their mutual love.Ada is with Zemina and Farzana. She complains to them of how they heartlessly drive her on. They, however, express hope that she will renounce Arindal and remain immortal. She sings (Weh' mir, so nah' die fürchterlische Stunde) of her fears that Arindal will be cursed with madness and death, and she with being turned to a statue, but then expresses hope that Arindal's love will prove strong.
Gernot and Gunther talk of the terrible omens of the night and morning. Gernot asks Gunther if Drolla is still beautiful and still loyal to him. Gunther says he believes so but says Gernot should ask her himself as she is nearby. Gernot and Drolla test each other with stories of the many people who love them. Each becomes jealous before they realise that they both truly love each other.
Battle is raging outside. Arindal is anxious and refuses to lead the army out. Morald does so instead. Ada appears with her two children by Arindal. She seems to throw them into a fiery abyss. Meanwhile defeated warriors rush in. Ada refuses to console Arindal saying she has come to torment him instead. More defeated warriors arrive with reports that Morald has disappeared, captured or dead. Then Harald, who was sent to bring reinforcements, comes. He reports that his army was defeated by one led by Ada. Arindal curses her. Zemina and Farzana express joy that Ada will remain immortal. But she sorrowfully explains that the fairy-king had required as a condition of her renouncing her immortality, that she conceal her fairy background from Arindal for eight years and on the last day torment him as best she can. If he cursed her, she would remain immortal and be turned to stone for a hundred years while he would go mad and die. In truth, Morald is not dead, the army Harald led was full of traitors, and the children are still alive. Already Arindal can feel his sanity slipping.
Act 3
A chorus hail Morald and Lora as the King and Queen who have brought them peace. The couple say they cannot rejoice, because of Arindal's fate. All pray for the curse to be lifted.Arindal is hallucinating that he is hunting a doe. As it is killed, he realises it is his wife. He continues to experience visions (Ich seh' den Himmel) before falling asleep. The voice of the petrified but weeping Ada is heard calling for him. Then the voice of Groma calls to him too. A sword, shield and lyre appear which Groma says can win Arindal victory and a greater reward. Zemina and Farzana, enter. The former expresses her pity for Arindal while the latter says he deserves punishment for seeking to take Ada from them. They wake him and announce they will lead him to Ada to rescue her. He expresses his willingness to die for her. The two fairies hope this will actually happen.
They lead Arindal to a portal guarded by earth spirits. He is about to be defeated when the voice of Groma reminds him of the shield. The earth spirits disappear when he holds it up. The fairies express their surprise but are sure he will not triumph again. Meanwhile he thanks Groma's power. Next they encounter bronze men who guard a holy sanctuary. The shield fails Arindal but when Groma advises him to hold up the sword, the bronze men vanish. The fairies again express their surprise whilst Groma's spirit urges Arindal on. They now have reached a grotto where Ada has been turned to stone. The two fairies taunt Arindal with the threat that failure will mean that he too is turned to stone. But the voice of Groma urges him to play the lyre. When he does so (O ihr, des Busens Hochgefühle), Ada is freed from the stone. The two fairies realise that Groma is responsible.
The scene changes to the fairy king's throne room. He has decided to grant Arindal immortality. Ada invites him to rule her fairyland with her. Arindal grants his mortal kingdom to Morald and Lora. Everyone rejoices; even Zemina and Farzana are happy now that Ada remains immortal.
The music
As a German Romantic opera, Die Feen imitated the musical style of Carl Maria von WeberCarl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school....
. According to Danilo Prefumo's notes to one of the recordings available, it also showed the influence of Italian opera, grand opera
Grand Opera
Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterised by large-scale casts and orchestras, and lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on or around dramatic historic events...
and opéra comique
Opéra comique
Opéra comique is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged out of the popular opéra comiques en vaudevilles of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent , which combined existing popular tunes with spoken sections...
. On the other hand, Alan Blyth
Alan Blyth
Geoffrey Alan Blyth was an English music critic, author, and musicologist who was particularly known for his writings within the field of opera. He graduated from the Rugby School before attending the University of Oxford where he studied with Jack Westrup...
, Gramophone's regular Wagner reviewer, sees both Weber and Marschner as influences but says that, by avoiding the aping of Italian opera in Das Liebesverbot
Das Liebesverbot
Das Liebesverbot is an early opera in two acts by Richard Wagner, with the libretto written by the composer after Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. Described as a grosse komische Oper, it was composed in 1834, and Wagner conducted the premiere in 1836 at Magdeburg...
and of grand opera in Rienzi
Rienzi
Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribunen is an early opera by Richard Wagner in five acts, with the libretto written by the composer after Bulwer-Lytton's novel of the same name . The title is commonly shortened to Rienzi...
, the result was an opera more stylistically unified than its successors. "The later works may contain individual passages that are more 'advanced' than anything in the youthfully imitative ways of Die Feen, but as entities they are less satisfying."
In The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, critic John Rockwell
John Rockwell
John Rockwell is a music critic, editor, and dance critic. He studied at Phillips Academy, Harvard, the University of Munich, and the University of California, Berkeley, earning a Ph.D. in German culture....
acknowledges the presence of passages imitative of Weber and Marschner but says that there are "wonderfully original passages too... Some of the instrumental writing is exquisite. And especially in the final two acts, there are ensembles and scenes of undeniable strength of personality. This is not some quaint antiquarian resurrection, but an opera that can work for today's audiences on stage." Blyth is less wholehearted in his support. In 1984, he wrote "The libretto is impossibly awkward, its language stilted, many of its musical structures ill-considered, but much is enjoyable in its own right as much as for the enjoyment in discovering seeds of future triumphs." But fifteen years later he was writing that the work's interest lay only in its evidence of the mature composer, "on its own account it's a bit of a bore."
The Weberian overture in E Major, the key in which the opera begins and ends, includes many of the opera's principal themes. The work as a whole does not have the complex chains of melody
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
and chromatic
Chromatic scale
The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone apart. On a modern piano or other equal-tempered instrument, all the half steps are the same size...
harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
that distinguished the composer's mature works. However, there is already a tendency in the opera to move away from a strict numbers form and to present the singers with long challenging passages. Recurring themes or simple leitmotif
Leitmotif
A leitmotif , sometimes written leit-motif, is a musical term , referring to a recurring theme, associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical idea of idée fixe...
s associated with characters and situations already show a tendency towards something that Wagner would later use in a far more sophisticated manner in his mature works. Another anticipation of the composer's mature manner is how orchestra often carries the tune while vocal parts are declamatory. Of the various arias, Blyth picks out Ada's "huge Act 2 scene, which calls for a genuine dramatic soprano" noting that Birgit Nilsson
Birgit Nilsson
right|thumb|Nilsson in 1948.Birgit Nilsson was a celebrated Swedish dramatic soprano who specialized in operatic and symphonic works...
had recorded it. He sees the ensembles as anticipating Tannhäuser
Tannhäuser (opera)
Tannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two German legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg...
and Lohengrin
Lohengrin (opera)
Lohengrin is a romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach and its sequel, Lohengrin, written by a different author, itself...
but picks out "the delightful buffo duet for Gernot... and Drolla", saying it looks forward more to Das Liebesverbot "except that it surpasses in unassuming tunefulness anything in the following score".
Recordings
There are three recordings of Die Feen available as of 2007, none of which were made in the studio.- Die Feen, conducted by Edward DownesEdward DownesSir Edward Thomas "Ted" Downes, CBE was an English conductor, specialising in opera.He was associated with the Royal Opera House from 1952, and with Opera Australia from 1970. He was also well known for his long working relationship with the BBC Philharmonic and for working with the Netherlands...
with April CanteloApril CanteloApril Cantelo is an English soprano.She was born Rosemary April Cantelo in Purbrook, Hampshire. She attended Chelmsford County High School for Girls. She studied in London under Vilém Tauský, Joan Cross, Imogen Holst and others...
(Ada), John MitchinsonJohn MitchinsonFor the English tenor, see John Mitchinson .For the Bishop, see John Mitchinson .John Mitchinson is the head of research for the British television panel game QI, and is also the managing director of Quite Interesting Limited. He is co-writer of the QI series of books with the show's creator John...
(Arindal), Della JonesDella JonesDella Jones , is a Welsh mezzo-soprano, particularly well-known for her interpretations of works by Handel, Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, and Britten.-Life and career:Della Jones was born in Tonna, near Neath, Wales...
(Farzana) etc. BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra, BBC Northern Singers. Live, complete and uncut, concert recording 2 May 1976. with bonus tracks from a 1983 Vienna State OperaVienna State OperaThe Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
performance conducted by Sixten EhrlingSixten EhrlingSixten Ehrling, , was a Swedish conductor who, during a long career, served as the music director of the Royal Swedish Opera and the principal conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, amongst others....
with a cast led by Gundula JanowitzGundula JanowitzGundula Janowitz is an Austrian lyric soprano singer of operas, oratorios and concerts. She is one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century and was pre-eminent in the 1960s and 1970s.-Career:...
as Ada (Ponto POCD1027)
- Die Feen, conducted by Wolfgang SawallischWolfgang SawallischWolfgang Sawallisch is a retired German conductor and pianist.-Biography:Sawallisch was born in Munich, and studied composition and pianoforte there privately: at the conclusion of the war, in 1946 he continued his studies at the Munich High School for Music and passed his final examination for...
, with a cast including John AlexanderJohn Alexander (tenor)John Alexander was an American operatic tenor who had a substantial career during the 1950s through the 1980s. He had a long standing relationship with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, singing with that company every year between 1961 and 1987 for a total of 379 performances...
(Arindal), Linda Esther GrayLinda Esther GrayLinda Esther Gray is a retired Scottish soprano and an operatic singing teacher.-Early life:Gray was born in Greenock, Scotland in 1948. She showed an early talent in music and supplemented the usual Scottish primary and secondary state school education with private lessons in both singing and...
(Ada), June AndersonJune AndersonJune Anderson is a Grammy Award-winning American coloratura soprano. Originally known for bel canto performances of Rossini, Donizetti, and Vincenzo Bellini, she was the first non-Italian ever to win the prestigious Bellini d'Oro prize...
(Lora), Cheryl StuderCheryl StuderCheryl Studer is a Grammy Award winning American dramatic soprano who has sung at many of the world's major opera houses. A singer with unusual versatility, Studer has performed more than eighty roles ranging from the dramatic repertoire to roles more commonly associated with lyric sopranos and...
(Drolla), Kurt MollKurt MollKurt Moll is a German operatic bass, now retired.-Biography:Moll was born in Buir, near Cologne, Germany. As a child, he played the cello and hoped to become a great cellist. He also sang in the school choir, and the conductor encouraged him to concentrate on singing...
(Fairy King) etc. live performance Munich Opera Festival (1983) (ORFEO C 062 833 F)
- Die Feen, conducted by Gabor Ötvös with Raimo Sirkiä (Arindal), Sue Patchell (Ada), Arthur Korn (Gernot), Birgit Beer (Drolla) etc. live recording from Teatro Comunale di Cagliari (1998) (DynamicDynamic (record label)Dynamic is an Italian independent record label located in Genoa. Founded in 1978, it specialises in classical music and opera, especially rarely performed works and has produced several world premiere recordings...
CDS 217/1-3)
Conductors who have recorded the overture include Francesco D'Avalos (Asv Living Era B0000030XD), Marek Janowski
Marek Janowski
Marek Janowski is a Polish-born conductor.Janowski grew up in Wuppertal, Germany, near Cologne, after his mother traveled there at the start of World War II to be with her parents...
(Angel B00005UVAN), Franz Konwitschny
Franz Konwitschny
Franz Konwitschny was a German conductor and violist.He started his career on the viola, playing in the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Wilhelm Furtwängler. In 1925, he moved to Vienna, where he played the viola with the Fitzner Quartet. He also began teaching at the Wiener Volkskonservatorium...
(Archipel ARPCD0239), Alexander Rahbari (Naxos B0001Z65J4), Alois Springer (Vox B000001KAH) and Hans Swarowsky
Hans Swarowsky
Hans Swarowsky was an Austrian conductor of Hungarian birth and Jewish descent.Swarowsky was born in Budapest, Hungary. He studied the art of conducting under Felix Weingartner and Richard Strauss...
(Vox B000001KD3).