Rienzi
Encyclopedia
Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribunen (WWV
49) (Rienzi, the Last of the Tribunes) 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 (1835). The title is commonly shortened to Rienzi. Written between July 1838 and November 1840, it was first performed at the Hofoper
, Dresden
on October 20, 1842, and was the composer's first success.
The opera is set in Rome
and is based on the life of Cola di Rienzi (1313–1354), a medieval Italian
populist figure who succeeds in outwitting and then defeating the nobles and their followers and in raising the power of the people. Magnanimous at first, he is forced by events to crush the nobles' rebellion against the people's power, but popular opinion changes and even the Church, which had urged him to assert himself, turns against him. In the end the populace burns the Capitol, in which Rienzi and a few adherents have made a last stand.
Rienzi is Wagner's third completed opera, and is mostly written in a grand opera
style; depictions of the mob, the liberal ethos associated with the hero and the political intervention of a reactionary clergy recall La vestale
, Les Huguenots
, and also Fromental Halévy
's La Juive
. Each act ends with an extended finale ensemble and is replete with solos, duets, trios and crowd scenes. There is also an extended ballet
in Act II according to the accepted Grand Opera format. Hans von Bülow
was later to joke that "Rienzi is Meyerbeer's best opera".
Wagner began to draft the opera in Riga
in 1837, after reading Lytton's novel. In 1839, meeting Meyerbeer by chance in Boulogne, he was able to read the latter the first three acts of the libretto, and to gain his interest. Meyerbeer also introduced Wagner to Ignaz Moscheles
, who was also staying at Boulogne; as Ernest Newman
comments, this was "Wagner's first meeting with real international musical celebrities". When the opera was completed in 1840, Wagner had hoped for it to be premiered at the Paris Opéra
. Several circumstances, including his lack of influence, prevented this. Moreover, Wagner's wife Minna
, in a letter of October 28, 1840 to Wagner's friend Apel, who had likely first made the suggestion that Wagner compose Rienzi, mentions a plan to perform the overture to Rienzi "a fortnight hence", but contains a clear indication that her husband had just been committed to a debtor's prison. The full score of Rienzi was completed on November 19, 1840.
In 1841 Wagner moved to Meudon
, just outside Paris, where the debt laws could be more easily evaded, whilst awaiting developments for Rienzi, having already written to King Frederick Augustus II of Saxony
, requesting that he order a production of the work in Dresden
.
With the support of Meyerbeer, a staging of Rienzi was arranged in Dresden; Meyerbeer wrote to the Director of the Opera in Dresden, Baron von Lüttichau, that he found the opera "rich in fantasy and of great dramatic effect". This, with the proposed staging of The Flying Dutchman
in Berlin
, also supported by Meyerbeer, persuaded Wagner to return to Germany in April 1842. During rehearsals the performers were highly enthusiastic; the tenor Tichatschek, in the title role, was so impressed with a passage from Act III (later deleted because of the opera's length), that 'at each rehearsal, each of the soloists contributed a silver
groschen
to [a] fund that Tichatschek had started ... No one suspected that what was an amiable joke for them was the means of buying [Wagner] an extra morsel of sorely-needed food'.
The premiere of Rienzi took place on October 20 in the new Dresden Opera House
, designed by the architect Gottfried Semper
and opened on April 14, 1841. Semper and Wagner were later to become friends in Dresden, a connection which eventually led to Semper providing designs which became a basis of Wagner's Festspielhaus
in Bayreuth.
The first performance of Rienzi was well received in Dresden despite running over six hours (including intermissions). One legend is that, fearful of the audience departing, Wagner stopped the clock above the stage. In his later memoirs, Mein Leben
, Wagner recalled:
Subsequently, Wagner experimented with giving the opera over two evenings (at the suggestion of von Lüttichau), and making cuts to enable a more reasonable performance in a single evening.
The US premiere took place on 4 March 1848 at the Academy of Music in New York and was followed on 27 January 1879 by the first UK performance at Her Majesty's Theatre
in London. A staging at the English National Opera
in London, produced by Nicholas Hytner
in 1983, placed the hero in the context of 20th-century totalitarianism
. A production by David Pountney
at the Vienna State Opera
in 1999 set the work in the "near future". Of this production Pountney wrote:
In recent time, performances at the Theater Bremen
were given in April/May 2009 and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Oper Leipzig
in April/May 2010.
The patrician Orsini and his cronies attempt to kidnap Rienzi's sister Irene. Stefano Colonna, also a patrician but inclined to support Rienzi, prevents them. Raimondo appeals to the parties in the name of the Church to stop their fighting; Rienzi's eventual appearance (marked by a dramatic key shift, from D to E flat) quells the riot. The Roman people support Rienzi's condemnation of the nobles. Irene and Adriano realise their mutual attraction (duet Ja, eine Welt voll Leiden (Yes, a world of sorrows)). A gathering crowd of plebeians, inspired by Rienzi's speeches, offers Rienzi the crown; he demurs, insisting that he wishes only to be a Tribune
of the Roman people.
The patricians plot the death of Rienzi; Adriano is horrified when he learns of this. Rienzi greets a group of ambassador
s for whom an entertainment (a lengthy ballet
) is laid on. Orsini attempts to stab Rienzi, who however is protected by a vest of chain-mail. Adriano pleads with Rienzi for mercy to the nobles, which Rienzi grants.
The Act 2 ballet is noteworthy as Wagner made a clear attempt to make it relevant to the action of the opera (whereas in most Grand Operas the ballet was simply an entertaining diversion). The Rienzi ballet was intended to tell the tale of the 'Rape of Lucretia
'. This storyline (in which Tarquinius
, the last king of Rome, attempts to rape the virtuous Lucretia), parallels both the action of Rienzi (Orsini's attempt on Irene) and its background (patricians versus the people). In its original form the ballet lasts for over half an hour – in modern performances and recordings it is generally drastically cut.
The patricians have recruited an army to march on Rome. The people are alarmed. Rienzi rouses the people and leads them to victory over the nobles, in the course of which Adriano's father Stefano is killed. Adriano swears revenge, but Rienzi dismisses him.
Cecco and other citizens discuss the negotiations of the patricians with the Pope
and with the Emperor of Germany
. Adriano's intention to kill Rienzi wavers when Rienzi arrives together with Irene. Raimondo now announces that the Pope has laid a papal ban on Rienzi, and that his associates risk excommunication
. Despite Adriano's urgings, Irene resolves to stay with Rienzi.
Rienzi in his prayer Allmächt’ger Vater (Almighty Father!) asserts his faith in the people of Rome. He suggests to Irene that she seeks safety with Adriano, but she demurs. An apologetic Adriano enters and tells the pair that the Capitol is to be burnt and they are at risk. (Sound clip:Rienzi's prayer sung by Max Lorenz
, 1941)
Scene 2: The Capitol is ablaze
Rienzi's attempts to speak are met with stones and insults from the fickle crowd. Adriano, in trying to rescue Rienzi and Irene, is killed with them as the building collapses.
In the original performances, Rienzi's final words are bitter and pessimistic: "May the town be accursed and destroyed! Disintegrate and wither, Rome! Your degenerate people wish it so." However for the 1847 Berlin performance Wagner substituted a more upbeat rhetoric: "Ever while the seven hills of Rome remain, ever while the eternal city stands, you will see Rienzi's return!".
, he wrote "I saw it only in the shape of 'five acts', with five brilliant 'finales', with hymns, processions and the musical clash of arms". Cosima Wagner
recorded Wagner's comment in her diary for June 20, 1871:
Thus the work has remained outside today's Wagner canon, and has never been performed at the Bayreuth Festival
. Although the composer disclaimed it, it can be noted that Rienzi prefigures themes (brother/sister relationships, social order and revolution) to which Wagner was often to return in his later works.
The success of Rienzi – his first real success of any kind – was crucial in Wagner's career, launching him as a composer to be reckoned with. It was followed, within months, by his appointment as Kapellmeister
at the Dresden Opera (February 1843), which also gave him considerable prestige. It also received critical acclaim elsewhere in Europe. The young Eduard Hanslick
, later to be one of Wagner's foremost critical adversaries, wrote in 1846 in Vienna
:
Other critical comments though the ages have included (apart from von Bulow's jibe about it being 'Meyerbeer's best opera'), 'Meyerbeer's worst opera' (Charles Rosen
), 'an attack of musical measles' (Ernest Newman
) and ' the greatest musical drama ever composed' (Gustav Mahler
).
Franz Liszt
wrote a Fantasy on themes from Rienzi (S. 439) for piano in 1859. (Download score from IMSLP).
was so influenced by seeing Rienzi as a young man in 1906 or 1907 that it determined his political career (and that he later told Winifred Wagner
"in that hour it all began") has been exposed as "fanciful". Nevertheless Hitler possessed the manuscript of the opera (which he had requested and been given as a fiftieth birthday present in 1939) and had it with him in his bunker, from which it was either stolen or lost, so that its present whereabouts are unknown. Thomas Grey comments:
A critical edition of the opera has been prepared (published by Schott's
in Mainz
in 1976 as volume III of their scholarly complete edition of Wagner's works, and edited by Reinhard Strohm and Egon Voss). Although this uses the above extant sources, and also an 1844 piano version prepared by Gustav Klink which includes some of the passages excised from early performances, it would seem that it is not possible to accurately reconstruct Wagner's "original"; indeed as it seems he was constantly reshaping the score during the 1840s, it is probably impossible to determine Wagner's exact intentions.
Recordings of the overture include:
James Levine
conducting the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra,
Arturo Toscanini
conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra
,
George Szell
conducting the Cleveland Orchestra
,
Lorin Maazel
conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra
,
Leopold Stokowski
conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
,
Zubin Mehta
conducting the New York Philharmonic Orchestra,
Daniel Barenboim
conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
and
Karl Böhm
conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
WWV (Wagner)
The Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis , usually shortened to WWV, is an index and musicological guide to the 113 musical compositions of Richard Wagner compiled by John Deathridge, Martin Geck, and Egon Voss....
49) (Rienzi, the Last of the Tribunes) is an early 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...
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...
in five acts, with the 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...
written by the composer after Bulwer-Lytton's
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton PC , was an English politician, poet, playwright, and novelist. He was immensely popular with the reading public and wrote a stream of bestselling dime-novels which earned him a considerable fortune...
novel of the same name (1835). The title is commonly shortened to Rienzi. Written between July 1838 and November 1840, it was first performed at the Hofoper
Semperoper
The Semperoper is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden and the concert hall of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden . It is located near the Elbe River in the historic center of Dresden, Germany.The opera house was originally built by the architect Gottfried Semper in 1841...
, Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
on October 20, 1842, and was the composer's first success.
The opera is set in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and is based on the life of Cola di Rienzi (1313–1354), a medieval Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
populist figure who succeeds in outwitting and then defeating the nobles and their followers and in raising the power of the people. Magnanimous at first, he is forced by events to crush the nobles' rebellion against the people's power, but popular opinion changes and even the Church, which had urged him to assert himself, turns against him. In the end the populace burns the Capitol, in which Rienzi and a few adherents have made a last stand.
Composition history
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...
style; depictions of the mob, the liberal ethos associated with the hero and the political intervention of a reactionary clergy recall La vestale
La vestale
La vestale is an opera composed by Gaspare Spontini to a French libretto by Etienne de Jouy. It was first performed at the Paris Opéra in Paris on December 15, 1807 and is regarded as Spontini's masterpiece...
, Les Huguenots
Les Huguenots
Les Huguenots is a French opera by Giacomo Meyerbeer, one of the most popular and spectacular examples of the style of grand opera. The opera is in five acts and premiered in Paris in 1836. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Émile Deschamps....
, and also Fromental Halévy
Fromental Halévy
Jacques-François-Fromental-Élie Halévy, usually known as Fromental Halévy , was a French composer. He is known today largely for his opera La Juive.-Early career:...
's La Juive
La Juive
La Juive is a grand opera in five acts by Fromental Halévy to an original French libretto by Eugène Scribe; it was first performed at the Opéra, Paris, on February 23, 1835.-Composition history:...
. Each act ends with an extended finale ensemble and is replete with solos, duets, trios and crowd scenes. There is also an extended ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
in Act II according to the accepted Grand Opera format. Hans von Bülow
Hans von Bülow
Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. He was one of the most famous conductors of the 19th century, and his activity was critical for establishing the successes of several major composers of the time, including Richard...
was later to joke that "Rienzi is Meyerbeer's best opera".
Wagner began to draft the opera in Riga
Riga
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
in 1837, after reading Lytton's novel. In 1839, meeting Meyerbeer by chance in Boulogne, he was able to read the latter the first three acts of the libretto, and to gain his interest. Meyerbeer also introduced Wagner to Ignaz Moscheles
Ignaz Moscheles
Ignaz Moscheles was a Bohemian composer and piano virtuoso, whose career after his early years was based initially in London, and later at Leipzig, where he succeeded his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as head of the Conservatoire.-Sources:Much of what we know about Moscheles's life...
, who was also staying at Boulogne; as Ernest Newman
Ernest Newman
Ernest Newman was an English music critic and musicologist. Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians describes him as "the most celebrated British music critic in the first half of the 20th century." His style of criticism, aiming at intellectual objectivity in contrast to the more subjective...
comments, this was "Wagner's first meeting with real international musical celebrities". When the opera was completed in 1840, Wagner had hoped for it to be premiered at the Paris Opéra
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera is the primary opera company of Paris, France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the Académie d'Opéra and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and renamed the Académie Royale de Musique...
. Several circumstances, including his lack of influence, prevented this. Moreover, Wagner's wife Minna
Minna Planer
Christine Wilhelmine "Minna" Planer was a German actress and the first wife of composer Richard Wagner to whom she was married for 30 years, although for the last 10 years they often lived apart. Seduced at an early age by an Army officer, she had an illegitimate daughter, who was brought up as...
, in a letter of October 28, 1840 to Wagner's friend Apel, who had likely first made the suggestion that Wagner compose Rienzi, mentions a plan to perform the overture to Rienzi "a fortnight hence", but contains a clear indication that her husband had just been committed to a debtor's prison. The full score of Rienzi was completed on November 19, 1840.
In 1841 Wagner moved to Meudon
Meudon
Meudon is a municipality in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is in the département of Hauts-de-Seine. It is located from the center of Paris.-Geography:...
, just outside Paris, where the debt laws could be more easily evaded, whilst awaiting developments for Rienzi, having already written to King Frederick Augustus II of Saxony
Frederick Augustus II of Saxony
Frederick Augustus II |Tyrol]], 9 August 1854) was King of Saxony and a member of the House of Wettin.He was the eldest son of Maximilian, Prince of Saxony --younger son of the Elector Frederick Christian of Saxony—by his...
, requesting that he order a production of the work in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
.
With the support of Meyerbeer, a staging of Rienzi was arranged in Dresden; Meyerbeer wrote to the Director of the Opera in Dresden, Baron von Lüttichau, that he found the opera "rich in fantasy and of great dramatic effect". This, with the proposed staging of The Flying Dutchman
The Flying Dutchman (opera)
Der fliegende Holländer is an opera, with music and libretto by Richard Wagner.Wagner claimed in his 1870 autobiography Mein Leben that he had been inspired to write "The Flying Dutchman" following a stormy sea crossing he made from Riga to London in July and August 1839, but in his 1843...
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, also supported by Meyerbeer, persuaded Wagner to return to Germany in April 1842. During rehearsals the performers were highly enthusiastic; the tenor Tichatschek, in the title role, was so impressed with a passage from Act III (later deleted because of the opera's length), that 'at each rehearsal, each of the soloists contributed a silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
groschen
Groschen
Groschen was the name for a coin used in various German-speaking states as well as some non-German-speaking countries of Central Europe , the Danubian principalities...
to [a] fund that Tichatschek had started ... No one suspected that what was an amiable joke for them was the means of buying [Wagner] an extra morsel of sorely-needed food'.
The premiere of Rienzi took place on October 20 in the new Dresden Opera House
Semperoper
The Semperoper is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden and the concert hall of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden . It is located near the Elbe River in the historic center of Dresden, Germany.The opera house was originally built by the architect Gottfried Semper in 1841...
, designed by the architect Gottfried Semper
Gottfried Semper
Gottfried Semper was a German architect, art critic, and professor of architecture, who designed and built the Semper Opera House in Dresden between 1838 and 1841. In 1849 he took part in the May Uprising in Dresden and was put on the government's wanted list. Semper fled first to Zürich and later...
and opened on April 14, 1841. Semper and Wagner were later to become friends in Dresden, a connection which eventually led to Semper providing designs which became a basis of Wagner's Festspielhaus
Festspielhaus
A Festspielhaus or Festival Theatre is a German language term describing a theatre designed for opera or music festivals.There are several examples of Festival Theatres in the German-speaking world:...
in Bayreuth.
The first performance of Rienzi was well received in Dresden despite running over six hours (including intermissions). One legend is that, fearful of the audience departing, Wagner stopped the clock above the stage. In his later memoirs, Mein Leben
Mein Leben (Wagner)
Mein Leben is the title given by the composer Richard Wagner to his autobiography, covering the years from his birth in 1813 to 1864.-Origins:Wagner began dictating Mein Leben to his wife Cosima on 17 July 1865 in Munich...
, Wagner recalled:
No subsequent experience has given me feelings even remotely similar to those I had on this day of the first performance of Rienzi. The only too well-founded anxiety as to their success has so dominated my feelings at all subsequent first performances of my works that I could never really enjoy them or take much notice of the way the audience was behaving.[...] The initial success of Rienzi was no doubt assured beforehand. But the uproarious way in which the public declared its partiality for me was extraordinary ... The public had been forcibly predisposed to accept it, because everyone connected with the theatre had been spreading such favourable reports ... that the entire population was looking forward to what was heralded as a miracle ... In trying to recall my condition that evening, I can remember it only as possessing all the features of a dream.
Subsequently, Wagner experimented with giving the opera over two evenings (at the suggestion of von Lüttichau), and making cuts to enable a more reasonable performance in a single evening.
Performance history
Despite Wagner's reservations, Rienzi remained one of his most successful operas until the early 20th century. In Dresden alone, it reached its 100th performance in 1873 and 200th in 1908 and it was regularly performed throughout the 19th century in major opera houses throughout Europe and beyond, including those in America and England in 1878/9. Recent productions have been rare, because of the large forces required and the work being so atypical of "received" Wagner to contemporary audiences.The US premiere took place on 4 March 1848 at the Academy of Music in New York and was followed on 27 January 1879 by the first UK performance at Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre, in Haymarket, City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the theatre...
in London. A staging at the English National Opera
English National Opera
English National Opera is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
in London, produced by Nicholas Hytner
Nicholas Hytner
Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner is an English film and theatre producer and director. He has been the artistic director of London's National Theatre since 2003.-Biography:...
in 1983, placed the hero in the context of 20th-century totalitarianism
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...
. A production by David Pountney
David Pountney
David Pountney is a British theatre and opera director and librettist internationally known for his productions of rarely performed operas and new productions of classic works...
at the Vienna State Opera
Vienna State Opera
The 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...
in 1999 set the work in the "near future". Of this production Pountney wrote:
- Wagner invested the musical realization of Rienzi with the unashamed extravagance and tasteless exaggeration of a Las VegasLas Vegas metropolitan areaThe Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
hotel ... only the self-consciously deliberate and unabashed use of kitschKitschKitsch is a form of art that is considered an inferior, tasteless copy of an extant style of art or a worthless imitation of art of recognized value. The concept is associated with the deliberate use of elements that may be thought of as cultural icons while making cheap mass-produced objects that...
could match this musical egomaniaEgomaniaEgomania is an obsessive preoccupation with one's self and applies to someone who follows their own ungoverned impulses and is possessed by delusions of personal greatness and feels a lack of appreciation. Someone suffering from this extreme egocentric focus is an egomaniac...
.
In recent time, performances at the Theater Bremen
Theater Bremen
Theater Bremen is the collective name for four auditoria in the city of Bremen - these are the Oper Bremen, the Schauspiel Bremen, the Tanztheater Bremen and the MoKS Bremen....
were given in April/May 2009 and at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Oper Leipzig
Oper Leipzig
Oper Leipzig is an opera house and opera company in Leipzig, Germany.The Leipzig Opera traces its establishment to the year 1693, making it the third oldest opera venue in Europe after La Fenice and the Hamburg State Opera...
in April/May 2010.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 20 October 1842 (Conductor: Carl Gottlieb Reißiger) |
|---|---|---|
| Cola Rienzi, Roman Tribune | 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... |
Josef Aloys Tichatschek |
| Irene, his sister | 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... |
Henriette Wüst |
| Stefano Colonna, a nobleman | bass | Georg Wilhelm Dettmer |
| Adriano, his son | 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... |
Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient, born Wilhelmine Schröder , was a German operatic soprano. As a singer she combined a rare quality of tone with dramatic intensity of expression, which was as remarkable on the concert platform as in opera.- Biography :Schröder was born in Hamburg, the daughter of the... |
| Paolo Orsini, another patrician | bass | Johann Michael Wächter Johann Michael Wächter Johann Michael Wächter was an Austrian bass-baritone most famous for appearing in the operas of Richard Wagner.... |
| Raimondo, Papal Legate | bass | Gioacchino Vestri |
| Baroncelli, Roman citizen | tenor | Friedrich Traugott Reinhold |
| Cecco del Vecchio, Roman citizen | bass | Karl Risse |
| The Messenger of Peace | soprano | Anna Thiele |
| Ambassadors, Nobles, Priests, Monks, Soldiers, Messengers, Populace | ||
Synopsis
Overture
The opera opens with a substantial overture which begins with a trumpet call (which in Act 3 we learn is the war call of the Colonna family) and features the melody of Rienzi's prayer at the start of Act 5, which became the opera's best-known aria. The overture ends with a dazzling military march.Act 1
Outside Rienzi's houseThe patrician Orsini and his cronies attempt to kidnap Rienzi's sister Irene. Stefano Colonna, also a patrician but inclined to support Rienzi, prevents them. Raimondo appeals to the parties in the name of the Church to stop their fighting; Rienzi's eventual appearance (marked by a dramatic key shift, from D to E flat) quells the riot. The Roman people support Rienzi's condemnation of the nobles. Irene and Adriano realise their mutual attraction (duet Ja, eine Welt voll Leiden (Yes, a world of sorrows)). A gathering crowd of plebeians, inspired by Rienzi's speeches, offers Rienzi the crown; he demurs, insisting that he wishes only to be a Tribune
Tribune
Tribune was a title shared by elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the right to propose legislation before it. They were sacrosanct, in the sense that any assault on their person was...
of the Roman people.
Act 2
A hall in the CapitolCapitoline Hill
The Capitoline Hill , between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the seven hills of Rome. It was the citadel of the earliest Romans. By the 16th century, Capitolinus had become Capitolino in Italian, with the alternative Campidoglio stemming from Capitolium. The English word capitol...
The patricians plot the death of Rienzi; Adriano is horrified when he learns of this. Rienzi greets a group of ambassador
Ambassador
An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
s for whom an entertainment (a lengthy ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
) is laid on. Orsini attempts to stab Rienzi, who however is protected by a vest of chain-mail. Adriano pleads with Rienzi for mercy to the nobles, which Rienzi grants.
The Act 2 ballet is noteworthy as Wagner made a clear attempt to make it relevant to the action of the opera (whereas in most Grand Operas the ballet was simply an entertaining diversion). The Rienzi ballet was intended to tell the tale of the 'Rape of Lucretia
Lucretia
Lucretia is a legendary figure in the history of the Roman Republic. According to the story, told mainly by the Roman historian Livy and the Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus , her rape by the king's son and consequent suicide were the immediate cause of the revolution that overthrew the...
'. This storyline (in which Tarquinius
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus
Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was the legendary seventh and final King of Rome, reigning from 535 BC until the popular uprising in 509 BC that led to the establishment of the Roman Republic. He is more commonly known by his cognomen Tarquinius Superbus and was a member of the so-called Etruscan...
, the last king of Rome, attempts to rape the virtuous Lucretia), parallels both the action of Rienzi (Orsini's attempt on Irene) and its background (patricians versus the people). In its original form the ballet lasts for over half an hour – in modern performances and recordings it is generally drastically cut.
Act 3
The Roman ForumRoman Forum
The Roman Forum is a rectangular forum surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum...
The patricians have recruited an army to march on Rome. The people are alarmed. Rienzi rouses the people and leads them to victory over the nobles, in the course of which Adriano's father Stefano is killed. Adriano swears revenge, but Rienzi dismisses him.
Act 4
Before the Lateran ChurchCecco and other citizens discuss the negotiations of the patricians with the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
and with the Emperor of Germany
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
. Adriano's intention to kill Rienzi wavers when Rienzi arrives together with Irene. Raimondo now announces that the Pope has laid a papal ban on Rienzi, and that his associates risk excommunication
Excommunication
Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
. Despite Adriano's urgings, Irene resolves to stay with Rienzi.
Act 5
Scene 1: A room in the CapitolRienzi in his prayer Allmächt’ger Vater (Almighty Father!) asserts his faith in the people of Rome. He suggests to Irene that she seeks safety with Adriano, but she demurs. An apologetic Adriano enters and tells the pair that the Capitol is to be burnt and they are at risk. (Sound clip:Rienzi's prayer sung by Max Lorenz
Max Lorenz
Max Lorenz was a German heroic tenor famous for Wagner roles.Lorenz was born in Düsseldorf, and studied with Ernst Grenzebach in Berlin in the 1920s. He made his debut at the Semperoper in Dresden in 1927, becoming a principal tenor...
, 1941)
Scene 2: The Capitol is ablaze
Rienzi's attempts to speak are met with stones and insults from the fickle crowd. Adriano, in trying to rescue Rienzi and Irene, is killed with them as the building collapses.
In the original performances, Rienzi's final words are bitter and pessimistic: "May the town be accursed and destroyed! Disintegrate and wither, Rome! Your degenerate people wish it so." However for the 1847 Berlin performance Wagner substituted a more upbeat rhetoric: "Ever while the seven hills of Rome remain, ever while the eternal city stands, you will see Rienzi's return!".
Reception and performances
Wagner later perceived Rienzi as an embarrassment; in his 1852 autobiographical essay , A Communication to My FriendsA Communication to My Friends
"Eine Mittheilung an meiner Freunde", usually referred to in English by its translated title of "A Communication to My Friends", is an extensive autobiographical work by Richard Wagner, published in 1851, in which he sought to justify his innovative concepts on the future of opera in general, and...
, he wrote "I saw it only in the shape of 'five acts', with five brilliant 'finales', with hymns, processions and the musical clash of arms". Cosima Wagner
Cosima Wagner
Cosima Francesca Gaetana Wagner, née de Flavigny, from 1844 known as Cosima Liszt; was the daughter of Hungarian composer Franz Liszt...
recorded Wagner's comment in her diary for June 20, 1871:
Rienzi is very repugnant to me, but they should at least recognize the fire in it; I was a music director and I wrote a grand opera; the fact that it was this same music director who gave them some hard nuts to crack – that's what should astonish them.
Thus the work has remained outside today's Wagner canon, and has never been performed at the Bayreuth Festival
Bayreuth Festival
The Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner are presented...
. Although the composer disclaimed it, it can be noted that Rienzi prefigures themes (brother/sister relationships, social order and revolution) to which Wagner was often to return in his later works.
The success of Rienzi – his first real success of any kind – was crucial in Wagner's career, launching him as a composer to be reckoned with. It was followed, within months, by his appointment as Kapellmeister
Kapellmeister
Kapellmeister is a German word designating a person in charge of music-making. The word is a compound, consisting of the roots Kapelle and Meister . The words Kapelle and Meister derive from the Latin: capella and magister...
at the Dresden Opera (February 1843), which also gave him considerable prestige. It also received critical acclaim elsewhere in Europe. The young Eduard Hanslick
Eduard Hanslick
Eduard Hanslick was a Bohemian-Austrian music critic.-Biography:Hanslick was born in Prague, the son of Joseph Adolph Hanslick, a bibliographer and music teacher from a German-speaking family, and one of his piano pupils, the daughter of a Jewish merchant from Vienna...
, later to be one of Wagner's foremost critical adversaries, wrote in 1846 in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
:
I am of the firm opinion that [Rienzi] is the finest thing achieved in grand opera in the last twelve years, that it is the most significant dramatic creation since Les Huguenots, and that it is just as epoch-making for its own time as were Les Huguenots, Der FreischützDer FreischützDer Freischütz is an opera in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber with a libretto by Friedrich Kind. It premiered on 18 June 1821 at the Schauspielhaus Berlin...
, and Don GiovanniDon GiovanniDon Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, each for its respective period of musical history
Other critical comments though the ages have included (apart from von Bulow's jibe about it being 'Meyerbeer's best opera'), 'Meyerbeer's worst opera' (Charles Rosen
Charles Rosen
Charles Rosen is an American pianist and author on music.-Life and career:In his youth he studied piano with Moriz Rosenthal. Rosenthal, born in 1862, had been a student of Franz Liszt...
), 'an attack of musical measles' (Ernest Newman
Ernest Newman
Ernest Newman was an English music critic and musicologist. Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians describes him as "the most celebrated British music critic in the first half of the 20th century." His style of criticism, aiming at intellectual objectivity in contrast to the more subjective...
) and ' the greatest musical drama ever composed' (Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
).
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
wrote a Fantasy on themes from Rienzi (S. 439) for piano in 1859. (Download score from IMSLP).
Rienzi and Adolf Hitler
The story that Adolf HitlerAdolf 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...
was so influenced by seeing Rienzi as a young man in 1906 or 1907 that it determined his political career (and that he later told Winifred Wagner
Winifred Wagner
Winifred Wagner was an English woman married to Siegfried Wagner, Richard Wagner's son. She was the effective head of the Wagner family from 1930 to 1945, and a close friend of German dictator Adolf Hitler....
"in that hour it all began") has been exposed as "fanciful". Nevertheless Hitler possessed the manuscript of the opera (which he had requested and been given as a fiftieth birthday present in 1939) and had it with him in his bunker, from which it was either stolen or lost, so that its present whereabouts are unknown. Thomas Grey comments:
In every step of Rienzi's career – from ... acclamation as leader of the Volk, through military struggle, violent suppression of mutinous factions, betrayal and ... final immolation – Hitler would doubtless have found sustenance for his fantasies.
Editions
The original performance version of Rienzi was lost in the Dresden bombing of 1945, and the manuscript as mentioned above was lost in Berlin in 1945. No full copies had been made of either. Only Wagner's composition draft in a form of vocal score remains as a primary source. Two surviving full scores made in Dresden in the early 1840s under Wagner's supervision already reflect the heavy cuts made in performances. The first printed score, also made under Wagner's supervision in 1844, reflects even heavier cuts.A critical edition of the opera has been prepared (published by Schott's
Schott Music
Schott Music is one of the oldest German music publishers. It is also one of the largest music publishing houses in Europe and is currently the second oldest music publishing house. The company headquarters of Schott Music was founded by Bernhard Schott in Mainz, Germany in 1770.Established in...
in Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
in 1976 as volume III of their scholarly complete edition of Wagner's works, and edited by Reinhard Strohm and Egon Voss). Although this uses the above extant sources, and also an 1844 piano version prepared by Gustav Klink which includes some of the passages excised from early performances, it would seem that it is not possible to accurately reconstruct Wagner's "original"; indeed as it seems he was constantly reshaping the score during the 1840s, it is probably impossible to determine Wagner's exact intentions.
Recordings
Complete recordings (and performances) of Rienzi are rare, although the overture is regularly found on radio broadcasts and compilation CDs. Significant cuts to the score are common in recordings.- Josef KripsJosef KripsJosef Alois Krips was an Austrian conductor and violinist.-Biography:Krips was born in Vienna and went on to become a pupil of Eusebius Mandyczewski and Felix Weingartner. From 1921 to 1924, he served as Weingartner's assistant at the Vienna Volksoper and as répétiteur and chorus master...
conducting the Vienna Symphony OrchestraVienna Symphony Orchestra-History:In 1900, Ferdinand Löwe founded the orchestra as the Wiener Concertverein . In 1913 it moved into the Konzerthaus, Vienna. In 1919 it merged with the Tonkünstler Orchestra. In 1933 it acquired its current name...
. Set SvanholmSet SvanholmSet Svanholm was a Swedish operatic tenor, considered the leading Tristan and Siegfried of the first decade following World War II....
, Walter Berry, Christa LudwigChrista LudwigChrista Ludwig is a retired German mezzo-soprano, distinguished for her performances of opera, Lieder, oratorio and other major religious works like masses and passions, and solos contained in symphonic literature...
, Alois PernerstorferAlois PernerstorferAlois Pernerstorfer was an Austrian bass-baritoneHe began his training in 1933 at the Wiener Musikhochschule with Theo Lierhammer and Josef Krips and made his opera debut in 1936 in Graz singing the role of Biterolf in Tannhäuser...
, Paul SchöfflerPaul SchöfflerPaul Schöffler was a German operatic baritone, particularly associated with Mozart, Wagner, Strauss roles....
. 1960 (Melodram). - Heinrich HollreiserHeinrich HollreiserHeinrich Hollreiser was a German conductor.Born in Munich, he attended the State Academy of Music there, and went on to serve as the conductor at the opera houses in Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Mannheim, and Duisburg. From 1942-1945 he served as the principal conductor of the Bavarian State Opera, while...
conducting the Dresden Staatskapelle. René KolloRené KolloRené Kollo is a German tenor.-Biography:He was born René Kollodzieyski in Berlin and grew up in Wyk auf Föhr. He attended a photography school in Hamburg, although he had always been interested in music, particularly conducting. He did not begin to perform until the mid-50s...
, Siv Wennberg, Janis MartinJanis Martin (soprano)Janis Martin is a retired American opera singer who sang leading roles first as a mezzo-soprano and later as a soprano in opera houses throughout Europe and the United States...
, Theo AdamTheo AdamTheo Adam is a distinguished German classical bass-baritone who had an active international career in operas, concerts, and recitals from the 1940s through the 1990s. He particularly excelled in portraying roles from the operas of Richard Wagner...
. 1975 (EMI). (Complete recording of Wagner's shortened 1843 version) - 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...
conducting the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra. John MitchinsonJohn Mitchinson (tenor)John Mitchinson is an English operatic tenor. He made his début singing the role of Jupiter in Handel's Semele. From 1972 to 1978, he was associated with the Sadler's Wells opera company; during that time, he created the role of the Poet in Joseph Tal's opera Massada 967...
, Lorna Haywood, Michael LangdonMichael LangdonMichael Langdon was a British bass opera singer.Langdon was born in Wolverhampton. He had six half brothers and sisters, the youngest, Maud being 19 years his senior. His father, Harry was sixty when his youngest son was born and by all accounts a very strong personality...
, Raimund HerincxRaimund HerincxRaimund Frederick Herincx is a British operatic bass baritone. Throughout a varied international career, Herincx performed in most of the world's great opera houses and with many of the world's leading symphony orchestras, having been in demand in international opera and in the choral and...
. 1976 (Ponto POCD1040) (Complete and uncut recording of Wagner's "original" 1842 version) - 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...
conducting the Bavarian State OperaBavarian State OperaThe Bavarian State Opera is an opera company based in Munich, Germany.Its orchestra is the Bavarian State Orchestra.- History:The opera company which was founded under Princess Henriette Adelaide of Savoy has been in existence since 1653...
Orchestra. René Kollo, Jan-Hendrik RooteringJan-Hendrik RooteringJan-Hendrik Rootering is a German-born bass-baritone, son of the Dutch tenor Hendrikus Rootering from whom he had his first lessons...
, 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...
, John Janssen. 1983 (Orfeo d'Oro)
Recordings of the overture include:
James Levine
James Levine
James Lawrence Levine is an American conductor and pianist. He is currently the music director of the Metropolitan Opera and former music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Levine's first performance conducting the Metropolitan Opera was on June 5, 1971, and as of May 2011 he has...
conducting the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra,
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra
NBC Symphony Orchestra
The NBC Symphony Orchestra was a radio orchestra established by David Sarnoff of the National Broadcasting Company especially for conductor Arturo Toscanini...
,
George Szell
George Szell
George Szell , originally György Széll, György Endre Szél, or Georg Szell, was a Hungarian-born American conductor and composer...
conducting the Cleveland Orchestra
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1918, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Severance Hall...
,
Lorin Maazel
Lorin Maazel
Lorin Varencove Maazel is an American conductor, violinist and composer.- Early life :Maazel was born to Jewish-American parents in Neuilly-sur-Seine in France and brought up in the United States, primarily at his parents' home in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood. His father, Lincoln Maazel , was...
conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
,
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Anthony Stokowski was a British-born, naturalised American orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.In America, Stokowski...
conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...
,
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.-Biography:...
conducting the New York Philharmonic Orchestra,
Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim, KBE is an Argentinian-Israeli pianist and conductor. He has served as music director of several major symphonic and operatic orchestras and made numerous recordings....
conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
and
Karl Böhm
Karl Böhm
Karl August Leopold Böhm was an Austrian conductor. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century.- Education :...
conducting the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
External links
- Synopsis from Stanford UniversityStanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
- Complete text of Bulwer-Lytton's Rienzi at Project Gutenberg.
- MIDI recording of the overture.