Irrelohe
Encyclopedia
Irrelohe is an opera
in three acts by the Austrian composer Franz Schreker
, libretto
by the composer.
which Schreker passed through during a journey to Nuremberg
in March 1919. Composition occupied Schreker from 1920 until 1922. The score was published in 1923 by Universal Edition
Vienna.
, conducted by Otto Klemperer
. Productions in a further seven cities followed (including Stuttgart
, Frankfurt
and Leipzig
), but critical response was mixed and, together with changing audience tastes and the complexity of the score, the work failed to maintain its place in the repertoire.
The first production in modern times was at the Bielefeld Opera
in 1985. The work was also staged at the Vienna Volksoper
in 2004 and at the Bonn Opera in 2010.
Additionally, an on-stage orchestra is required consisting of 2 piccolos, 2 clarinets, 6 horns, 3 trumpets, percussion, bells and organ.
Eva goes up to the castle and declares her love to Heinrich, which is returned. However, Heinrich, determined to overcome the madness within him, refuses to consummate their love until he and Eva are properly wed.
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 the Austrian composer Franz Schreker
Franz Schreker
Franz Schreker was an Austrian composer, conductor, teacher and administrator. Primarily a composer of operas, his style is characterized by aesthetic plurality , timbral experimentation, strategies of extended tonality and...
, 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 the composer.
Composition history
Schreker wrote the libretto in a very short time (just a few days) in 1919. The work takes its name from a train station called IrrenloheSchwandorf station
Schwandorf station is the second most important regional transport hub in the Upper Palatinate province of Bavaria after Regensburg Hauptbahnhof, and one of the two working railway stations in the town of Schwandorf...
which Schreker passed through during a journey to Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
in March 1919. Composition occupied Schreker from 1920 until 1922. The score was published in 1923 by Universal Edition
Universal 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.
Performance history
The opera was first performed on 27 March 1924 at the Stadttheater KölnCologne Opera
The Cologne Opera refers both to the main opera house in Cologne, Germany and to its resident opera company.-History of the company:...
, conducted by 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...
. Productions in a further seven cities followed (including Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
and Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
), but critical response was mixed and, together with changing audience tastes and the complexity of the score, the work failed to maintain its place in the repertoire.
The first production in modern times was at the Bielefeld Opera
Bielefeld Opera
The Bielefeld Opera is the venue of Städtische Bühnen Bielefeld in Bielefeld, Germany. It is a Dreisparten Haus , offering plays, music , and ballet...
in 1985. The work was also staged at the Vienna Volksoper
Vienna Volksoper
The Vienna Volksoper is a major opera house in Vienna, Austria. It gives about three hundred performances of twenty-five productions during an annual season running from September through June....
in 2004 and at the Bonn Opera in 2010.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast 27 March 1924 (Conductor: 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... ) |
|---|---|---|
| Count Heinrich (Graf Heinrich, Herr auf Irrelohe) | 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... |
|
| The forester (Der Förster) | 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... |
|
| Eva | 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... |
|
| Old Lola (Die alte Lola) | mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above... |
|
| Peter, Lola's son | 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... |
|
| Christobald, an old fiddler | tenor | |
| The parson (Der Pfarrer) | bass-baritone Bass-baritone A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende... |
|
| The miller (Der Müller) | bass | |
| Fünkchen, a musician | tenor | |
| Strahlbusch, a musician | tenor | |
| Ratzekahl, a musician | bass | |
| Anselmus | bass-baritone | |
| A footman (Ein Lakai) | tenor |
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 (all doubling piccoloPiccoloThe piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
), 3 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...
s (3rd doubling English horn), 3 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/B-flat, 3rd doubling clarinet in E-flat), bass clarinetBass clarinetThe bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet...
in B-flat (doubling basset horn in F), 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, contrabassoonContrabassoonThe contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon or double-bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower...
; - 6 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 F, 4 trumpets in C, 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, bass 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...
; - 2 sets of 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...
, 3 high kettle drums, percussion (9 players, including xylophoneXylophoneThe xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets...
, glockenspielGlockenspielA glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...
and 3 anvilAnvilAn anvil is a basic tool, a block with a hard surface on which another object is struck. The inertia of the anvil allows the energy of the striking tool to be transferred to the work piece. In most cases the anvil is used as a forging tool...
s), 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, harpsichordHarpsichordA harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...
, 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...
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, mandolinMandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
; - 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...
(16 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, 14 violins II, 12 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, 10 violoncellos, 8 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).
Additionally, an on-stage orchestra is required consisting of 2 piccolos, 2 clarinets, 6 horns, 3 trumpets, percussion, bells and organ.
Act 1
Lola, an ageing woman, lives with her son Peter. Peter asks about the dark and sinister castle of Irrelohe which stands on a distant hill, overlooking the village. Lola tells him the story of the curse surrounding the castle which for generations has led each of its inhabitants to sexually assault a woman and soon afterwards die insane. Peter, suspicious, wants to know the identity of his father, but Lola keeps putting the moment off. He learns the truth from Christobald, Lola’s former fiancée who has now returned. Lola was ravished by the then residing lord of Irrelohe during the celebrations for her own wedding thirty years ago. Peter realises he is the offspring of the rape and therefore must also be infected by the hereditary madness. He is unable to reveal the truth to his sweetheart, Eva, who is magnetically drawn to Heinrich, the current occupant of the castle.Act 2
The Miller, Eva’s father, tells the local Priest that his mill burned down during the night, the latest in a series of arson attacks that seem to happen at the same time every year. Fünkchen, Ratzekahl and Strahlbusch, Christobald’s accomplices, are travelling musicians who every year turn up to play at a wedding while Christobald starts a fire somewhere nearby.Eva goes up to the castle and declares her love to Heinrich, which is returned. However, Heinrich, determined to overcome the madness within him, refuses to consummate their love until he and Eva are properly wed.
Act 3
On the day of the wedding, Eva tries to convince Peter that their separation is for the best. Sensing the onset of the madness, Peter implores Eva not to dance at the wedding and pleads with his mother to bind him in chains. During the wedding festivities, Peter escapes from the house and attempts to force himself upon Eva but is overcome and strangled by Heinrich just as Christobald sends the castle up in flames. Heinrich is mortified by his killing of his own brother but is strengthened by Eva’s love and the pair look forward to a new and brighter future together.Recordings
- In 1995 Sony ClassicalSony Classical RecordsSony Classical Records was started in 1927 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of the American Columbia Records. In 1948, it issued the first commercially successful long-playing 12" record...
released a recording made by Austrian radio ORFORFORF may refer to:* ORF , the Austrian public service broadcaster.* Open reading frame, a portion of the genome.* The IATA airport code for Norfolk International Airport in Norfolk, Virginia.* ORF format , Olympus raw image file format....
during a concert performance at the Vienna Musikverein on 15 March 1995, with Peter Gülke conducting the Wiener Symphoniker. - A recording taken from live performances at the Bonn Opera in 2010 conducted by Stefan Blunier was released by Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm on SACDSACDSACD, founded as Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques on 7 March 1829, is a French collecting society, undertaking collective rights management for authors...
format in September 2011.