Elegy for Young Lovers
Encyclopedia
Elegy for Young Lovers is an opera
in three acts by Hans Werner Henze
to an English
libretto
by W. H. Auden
and Chester Kallman
.
at the Schwetzingen Festival
on 20 May 1961, conducted by Heinrich Bender. The first performance using the original English text was in Glyndebourne
, also in 1961. The Juilliard Opera Theater produced the opera in New York City
in 1965, with the composer conducting. Henze revised the opera in 1987, and this revised version received its first performance on 28 October 1988 at the La Fenice
Theatre, Venice, with Markus Stenz conducting.
According to Ann Saddlemyer in her book "Becoming George", the poet is partially based on W. B. Yeats, and his wife "George" (Georgie Hyde-Lees) was the inspiration for both the secretary and the woman with visions. David Anderson has noted that the poet also portrays Auden as well. Robert Henderson has summarized the thesis of the opera as follows:
Auden and Kallman described this opera as their equivalent of Richard Strauss
' opera Arabella
. The dedication of the opera is to the memory of Hugo von Hofmannsthal
.
Henze quoted material from the aria
My own, my own in his Fifth Symphony
, completed in 1962.
n Alps in 1910. The plot is centered around a poet, Gregor Mittenhofer, who manipulates the people in the inn to provide inspiration to his work, his faithful secretary, his doctor, his young "muse" Elisabeth and a hysterical woman who lost her husband to the mountains decades before and has visions.
When a young man arrives who attracts Elisabeth, Mittenhofer lets her go but doesn't act to prevent the young lovers' death in a snowstorm in the mountains, using the tragedy as the inspiration for a final "Elegie" of pure music, sung without words.
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 Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze is a German composer of prodigious output best known for "his consistent cultivation of music for the theatre throughout his life"...
to an English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
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...
by W. H. Auden
W. H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...
and Chester Kallman
Chester Kallman
Chester Simon Kallman was an American poet, librettist, and translator, best known for his collaborations with W. H. Auden and Igor Stravinsky.-Life:...
.
Background
The opera was first performed in a German translation by Ludwig Prinz von Hessen at the Schlosstheater SchwetzingenSchlosstheater Schwetzingen
Schlosstheater Schwetzingen is a theater in Schwetzingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The historic building, opened in 1753, is part of the Schwetzingen Castle and since 1952 the principal venue of the Schwetzingen Festival. It is also called Hoftheater , Hofoper , and Comoedienhaus...
at the Schwetzingen Festival
Schwetzingen Festival
The Schwetzingen Festival is an early summer festival of opera and other classical music presented each year from May to early June in Schwetzingen, Germany....
on 20 May 1961, conducted by Heinrich Bender. The first performance using the original English text was in Glyndebourne
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an English opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.-History:...
, also in 1961. The Juilliard Opera Theater produced the opera in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1965, with the composer conducting. Henze revised the opera in 1987, and this revised version received its first performance on 28 October 1988 at the La Fenice
La Fenice
Teatro La Fenice is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of the most famous theatres in Europe, the site of many famous operatic premieres. Its name reflects its role in permitting an opera company to "rise from the ashes" despite losing the use of two theatres...
Theatre, Venice, with Markus Stenz conducting.
According to Ann Saddlemyer in her book "Becoming George", the poet is partially based on W. B. Yeats, and his wife "George" (Georgie Hyde-Lees) was the inspiration for both the secretary and the woman with visions. David Anderson has noted that the poet also portrays Auden as well. Robert Henderson has summarized the thesis of the opera as follows:
"Elegy for Young Lovers....is a bitter indictment of the Romantic notion of the artist as hero, feeding remorselessly on those around him both in the name of art and to satisfy his own monstrous and inhumanely egotistical appetites."
Auden and Kallman described this opera as their equivalent of Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
' opera Arabella
Arabella
Arabella is a lyric comedy or opera in 3 acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, their sixth and last operatic collaboration. It was first performed on 1 July 1933, at the Dresden Sächsisches Staatstheater....
. The dedication of the opera is to the memory of Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Hugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal ; , was an Austrian novelist, librettist, poet, dramatist, narrator, and essayist.-Early life:...
.
Henze quoted material from the aria
Aria
An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment...
My own, my own in his Fifth Symphony
Symphony no. 5 (Henze)
Symphony No. 5 by Hans Werner Henze was written in 1962.Scored for large orchestra, it is in three movements, the first of which quotes directly from the aria My own, my own from Henze's opera Elegie für junge Liebende...
, completed in 1962.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 20 May 1961 (Conductor: Heinrich Bender) |
|---|---|---|
| Hilde Mack, a widow | coloratura soprano Coloratura soprano A coloratura soprano is a type of operatic soprano who specializes in music that is distinguished by agile runs and leaps. The term coloratura refers to the elaborate ornamentation of a melody, which is a typical component of the music written for this voice... |
Eva Maria Rogner |
| Elizabeth Zimmer | 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... |
Ingeborg Bremert |
| Carolina, Countess of Kirchstätten, secretary to Mittenhofer | contralto Contralto Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above... |
Lilian Benningsen |
| Toni Reischmann | 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... |
Friedrich Lenz |
| Gregor Mittenhofer, a poet | 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... |
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a retired German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous lieder performers of the post-war period and "one of the supreme vocal artists of the 20th century"... |
| Dr. Wilhelm Reischmann, a physician | bass | Karl Christian Kohn |
| Josef Mauer, a mountain climb leader | spoken | Hubert Hilten |
Synopsis
The opera is set in an inn called Der Schwarze Adler in the AustriaAustria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n Alps in 1910. The plot is centered around a poet, Gregor Mittenhofer, who manipulates the people in the inn to provide inspiration to his work, his faithful secretary, his doctor, his young "muse" Elisabeth and a hysterical woman who lost her husband to the mountains decades before and has visions.
When a young man arrives who attracts Elisabeth, Mittenhofer lets her go but doesn't act to prevent the young lovers' death in a snowstorm in the mountains, using the tragedy as the inspiration for a final "Elegie" of pure music, sung without words.
Recordings
- Liane Dubin (Elisabeth Zimmer), Catherine Gayer (Hilda Mack), Martha MödlMartha MödlMartha Mödl was a German soprano, and later a mezzo-soprano. She specialized in large dramatic roles, most notably Wagnerian roles such as Isolde, Kundry, and Brünnhilde...
(Carolina Gräfin von Kirchstetten), Loren Driscoll (Toni Reischmann), Dietrich Fischer-DieskauDietrich Fischer-DieskauDietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a retired German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous lieder performers of the post-war period and "one of the supreme vocal artists of the 20th century"...
(Gregor Mittenhofer), Radio-Symphonie-Orchester BerlinDeutsches Symphonie-Orchester BerlinThe Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin is an orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in 1946 by American occupation forces as the RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester . It was also known as the American Sector Symphony Orchestra...
, Henze conducting, in German, 1963 DGDeutsche GrammophonDeutsche Grammophon is a German classical record label which was the foundation of the future corporation to be known as PolyGram. It is now part of Universal Music Group since its acquisition and absorption of PolyGram in 1999, and it is also UMG's oldest active label...
http://www.musiquecontemporaine.fr/record/oai:bnf.fr:catalogue/ark:/12148/cb383925221 - Richard Lloyd-Morgan (Mittenhofer), Regina Schudel (Hilda Mack), Aurelia Hajek (Carolina), Silvia Weiss (Elisabeth), Bruno Fath (Toni Reischmann), Orchestra of the Berliner Kammeroper, Brynmor Llewelyn Jones, conductor, 1989 Deutsche Schallplatten DS (live in Berlin)
- Lisa Saffer (Hilda Mack), Rosemary Hardy (Elizabeth Zimmer), Mary King (Carolina von Kirchstetten), Christopher Gillet (Toni Reischmann), Roderick Kennedy (Dr. Wilhelm Reischmann), David Wilson-Johnson (Gregor Mittenhofer), Adrian Brine (Josef Mauer), Schönberg ensemble, Live recording Concertgebouw Amsterdam, september 27, 2000, conductor: Oliver Knussen. 2CD is part of the Schönberg Ensemble Edition box (a century of music in perspective).