Die Vögel (opera)
Encyclopedia
Die Vögel Op. 30 is an opera in a prologue and two acts by Walter Braunfels
. The libretto, written by the composer, is a free adaptation of Aristophanes
' comedy The Birds
which was performed at the Dionysos Theatre
in Athens in 414 BC
.
Vienna in 1920.
conducting and Maria Ivogün
(the Nightingale) and Karl Erb
(Good Hope) in the principal roles. This was followed by more than 50 performances in Munich alone the following two years, and by further performances in Berlin, Vienna and Cologne (where Otto Klemperer
conducted).
The first post-war staging of the opera took place in Karlsruhe in 1971. Another production was staged in Bremen in 1991, followed by a concert performance in Berlin in December 1994.
Recently, the opera has been given in various opera houses in Europe:
The United States premiere was staged in 2005 at the Spoleto Festival USA
in Charleston, South Carolina, with Julius Rudel
conducting. It was later performed in April 2009 at the Los Angeles Opera
, with James Conlon
conducting.
released the world premiere recording in their Entartete Musik series. This recording was made in the Jesus-Christus-Kirche in Berlin-Dahlem
in December 1994, with Lothar Zagrosek
conducting the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
.
Walter Braunfels
-Life:Walter Braunfels was born in Frankfurt am Main. His first music teacher was his mother, the great-niece of the composer Louis Spohr . He continued his piano studies in Frankfurt at the Hoch Conservatory with James Kwast....
. The libretto, written by the composer, is a free adaptation of Aristophanes
Aristophanes
Aristophanes , son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete...
' comedy The Birds
The Birds (play)
The Birds is a comedy by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was performed in 414 BCE at the City Dionysia where it won second prize. It has been acclaimed by modern critics as a perfectly realized fantasy remarkable for its mimicry of birds and for the gaiety of its songs...
which was performed at the Dionysos Theatre
Theatre of Dionysus
The Theatre of Dionysus is a major open-air theatre and one of the earliest preserved in Athens. It was used for festivals in honor of the god Dionysus...
in Athens in 414 BC
414 BC
Year 414 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Tribunate of Cossus, Ambustus, Potitus and Albinus...
.
Composition history
Composition of the opera started in 1913 and was finished in 1919. The score was published by Universal EditionUniversal Edition
Universal Edition is a classical music publishing firm. Founded in 1901 in Vienna, and originally intended to provide the core classical works and educational works to the Austrian market...
Vienna in 1920.
Performance history
The opera was first performed on 30 November 1920 at the National Theatre Munich, with Bruno WalterBruno Walter
Bruno Walter was a German-born conductor. He is considered one of the best known conductors of the 20th century. Walter was born in Berlin, but is known to have lived in several countries between 1933 and 1939, before finally settling in the United States in 1939...
conducting and Maria Ivogün
Maria Ivogün
Maria Ivogün was a distinguished soprano singer of Hungarian origin. She was especially an outstanding interpreter of the works of Mozart: her recording of the aria of the Queen of the Night became legendary.- Biography and artistic career :Maria Ivogün was born Ilse Kempner...
(the Nightingale) and Karl Erb
Karl Erb
Karl Erb was a German tenor vocalist who made his career first in opera and then in oratorio and lieder recital. He excelled in all these genres, and before 1920 gave classic performances of key roles in modern works, and created lead roles in those of Hans Pfitzner...
(Good Hope) in the principal roles. This was followed by more than 50 performances in Munich alone the following two years, and by further performances in Berlin, Vienna and Cologne (where Otto Klemperer
Otto Klemperer
Otto Klemperer was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the leading conductors of the 20th century.-Biography:Otto Klemperer was born in Breslau, Silesia Province, then in Germany...
conducted).
The first post-war staging of the opera took place in Karlsruhe in 1971. Another production was staged in Bremen in 1991, followed by a concert performance in Berlin in December 1994.
Recently, the opera has been given in various opera houses in Europe:
- at the Grand Theatre GenevaGrand Théâtre de GenèveGrand Théâtre de Genève is an opera house in Geneva, Switzerland.As with many other opera houses, the Grand Théâtre de Genève is both a venue and an institution. The venue is a majestic building, towering over Place Neuve, officially opened in 1876, partly destroyed by fire in 1951 and reopened in...
in February 2004, with Ulf SchirmerUlf SchirmerUlf Schirmer is a German conductor. He studied at the Bremen Conservatory, and also at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg with György Ligeti, Christoph von Dohnányi and Horst Stein....
conducting the Orchestre de la Suisse RomandeOrchestre de la Suisse RomandeThe Orchestre de la Suisse Romande is a Swiss symphony orchestra, based in Geneva at the Victoria Hall... - at the Teatro Lirico di CagliariTeatro Lirico (Cagliari)The Teatro Lirico di Cagliari is an opera house in Cagliari. It is the main theatre of the city.It was built to substitute the Teatro Civico, seriously damaged by the shelling of Cagliari operated by the Allies during World War II...
in April/May 2007 (the Italian premiere, conducted by Roberto AbbadoRoberto AbbadoRoberto Abbado is an Italian conductor. He is the son of musician Marcello Abbado and the nephew of conductor Claudio Abbado...
) - at the Konzerthaus BerlinKonzerthaus BerlinThe Konzerthaus Berlin is a concert hall situated on the Gendarmenmarkt square in the central Mitte district of Berlin housing the German orchestra Konzerthausorchester Berlin...
in March 2009 (two concert performances including video-installations, with Lothar ZagrosekLothar ZagrosekLothar Zagrosek is a German conductor. As a youth, he sang in the Regensburg Cathedral choir, including performances as the First Boy in The Magic Flute at the 1954 Salzburg Festival...
conducting the Konzerthausorchester Berlin)
The United States premiere was staged in 2005 at the Spoleto Festival USA
Spoleto Festival USA
Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the world's major performing arts festivals. It was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who sought to establish a counterpart to the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy...
in Charleston, South Carolina, with Julius Rudel
Julius Rudel
Julius Rudel is an American opera and orchestra conductor who emigrated to the United States from Austria at the age of 17 and studied conducting at the Mannes College of Music in New York City. He then forged a 35-year career with the New York City Opera, from 1944 to 1979, and was the Music...
conducting. It was later performed in April 2009 at the Los Angeles Opera
Los Angeles Opera
The Los Angeles Opera is an opera company in Los Angeles, California. It is the fourth largest opera company in the United States. The company's home base is the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, part of the Los Angeles Music Center.-Current leadership:...
, with James Conlon
James Conlon
James Conlon is an American conductor and the current Music Director of the Los Angeles Opera.-Early years:Conlon grew up in a family of five children on Cherry Street in Douglaston, Queens, New York. His mother, Angeline L. Conlon, was a freelance writer. His father was an assistant to the New...
conducting.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast 30 November 1920 (Conductor: Bruno Walter Bruno Walter Bruno Walter was a German-born conductor. He is considered one of the best known conductors of the 20th century. Walter was born in Berlin, but is known to have lived in several countries between 1933 and 1939, before finally settling in the United States in 1939... ) |
|---|---|---|
| Nachtigall (Nightingale) | high 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... |
Maria Ivogün Maria Ivogün Maria Ivogün was a distinguished soprano singer of Hungarian origin. She was especially an outstanding interpreter of the works of Mozart: her recording of the aria of the Queen of the Night became legendary.- Biography and artistic career :Maria Ivogün was born Ilse Kempner... |
| Hoffegut (Good Hope), human citizen of a big city | 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... |
Karl Erb Karl Erb Karl Erb was a German tenor vocalist who made his career first in opera and then in oratorio and lieder recital. He excelled in all these genres, and before 1920 gave classic performances of key roles in modern works, and created lead roles in those of Hans Pfitzner... |
| Ratefreund (Loyal Friend), human citizen of a big city | high bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C... |
|
| Zaunschlüpfer (Wren) | soprano | |
| Wiedhopf (Hoopoe), once a human, now King of the Birds | 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... |
Friedrich Brodersen Friedrich Brodersen Friedrich Brodersen was a German operatic baritone. Born in Bad Boll, he studied singing with Heinrich Bertram. He made his professional opera debut in 1900... |
| 1. Drossel (1st Thrush) | low soprano | |
| 2. Drossel (2nd Thrush) | soprano | |
| Prometheus | baritone | |
| Adler (Eagle) | bass | |
| voice of Zeus | baritone | |
| Flamingo | tenor | |
| Rabe (Raven) | bass | |
| 3 swallows, 2 tits, 4 doves, 4 wrynecks, 2 peewits, 3 cuckoos, chorus of birds, voices of the scent of flowers, voices of the winds | ||
Instrumentation
The orchestral score requires:- 3 fluteWestern concert fluteThe Western concert flute is a transverse woodwind instrument made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute. A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist, flutist, or flute player....
s, oboeOboeThe oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
, English horn, 2 clarinetClarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
s in A, 2 bassoonBassoonThe bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
s; - 4 hornHorn (instrument)The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
s in E, 2 trumpets in B-flat, 3 tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
s, tubaTubaThe tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
; - timpaniTimpaniTimpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
, percussion (2 players), 2 harpHarpThe harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
s, celestaCelestaThe celesta or celeste is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. Its appearance is similar to that of an upright piano or of a large wooden music box . The keys are connected to hammers which strike a graduated set of metal plates suspended over wooden resonators...
; - stringsString sectionThe string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...
(violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
s I, violins II, violaViolaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
s, violoncellos, double bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
es).
Recordings
In 1996 DeccaDecca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
released the world premiere recording in their Entartete Musik series. This recording was made in the Jesus-Christus-Kirche in Berlin-Dahlem
Dahlem (Berlin)
Dahlem is a locality of the Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough in southwestern Berlin. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a part of the former borough of Zehlendorf. Dahlem is one of the most affluent parts of the city and home to the main campus of the Free University of Berlin with the...
in December 1994, with Lothar Zagrosek
Lothar Zagrosek
Lothar Zagrosek is a German conductor. As a youth, he sang in the Regensburg Cathedral choir, including performances as the First Boy in The Magic Flute at the 1954 Salzburg Festival...
conducting the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
The 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...
.