German Writers on German Opera, 1798–1830
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! "# $ % & % ' % !"# $!%$! &#' !' "(&(&()(( *+*,(-!*,(."(/0 ' "# ' '% $$(' $(#1$2/ 3((&/ 14(/ Propagating a National Genre: German Writers on German Opera, 1798–1830 A Dissertation submitted to the Division of Graduate Studies and Research of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Division of Composition, Musicology, and Theory of the College-Conservatory of Music 2010 by Kevin Robert Burke BM Appalachian State University, 2002 MM University of Cincinnati, 2004 Committee Chair: Dr. Mary Sue Morrow ABSTRACT Standard histories of Western music have settled on the phrase “German Romantic opera” to characterize German operatic developments in the early part of the nineteenth century. A consideration of over 1500 opera reviews from close to thirty periodicals, however, paints a more complex picture. In addition to a fascination with the supernatural, composers were drawn to a variety of libretti, including Biblical and Classical topics, and considered the application of recitative and other conventions most historians have overlooked because of their un-German heritage. Despite the variety of approaches and conceptions of what a German opera might look like, writers from Vienna to Kassel shared a common aspiration to develop a true German opera. The new language of concert criticism found from specialized music journals like the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung to the entertainment inserts of feuilletons like the Zeitung für die elegante Welt made the operatic endeavor of the early nineteenth century a national one rather than a regional one as it was in the eighteenth century. ii Copyright 2010, Kevin Robert Burke iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to offer gratitude to all my colleagues, friends, and family who supported me with encouraging words, a listening ear, and moments of celebration at the end of each stage. A research grant from the Fulbright Foundation for the 2007–2008 academic year enabled me to complete the majority of the research for this project in a timely manner. I wish to thank Prof. Dr. Hartmut Schick and the Kolloquium für Musikwissenschaft at Ludwig-Maximillians Universität who offered guidance and feedback in the early stages of this project. I received assistance from several libraries and institutions; however, I would like to specifically recognize the staff of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in the Lesesaal für Musik, Karten und Bilder and in the Lesesaal für Handschriften und Alte Drucke, for helping me locate some fruitful resources. I also thank Dr. Jonathan Kregor and Dr. Steven J. Cahn for their insightful comments and helpful suggestions. A very special thanks goes out to my advisor, Dr. Mary Sue Morrow, who oversaw this dissertation from its beginning stages through its completion. Her monograph German Music Criticism in the Late Eighteenth Century: Aesthetic Issues in Instrumental Music (1997) initially inspired my interest in this topic. Above all, I would like to thank my wife, Emily, for supplying the endless support, encouragement, motivation, and patience I truly needed to endure and complete this journey. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES vii LIST OF FIGURES viii LIST OF JOURNAL ACRONYMS ix CHAPTER ONE: RETHINKING “GERMAN ROMANTIC OPERA” 1 CHAPTER TWO: THE JOURNALS OF GERMAN OPERA CRITICISM 27 Introduction 27 Major Critics and Types of Journals 28 Music Journals 30 Theater Journals 35 General Arts and Lifestyle Journals 42 Feuilletons 48 Conclusion 52 CHAPTER THREE: ESTABLISHING THE CORRECT TERMINOLOGY 53 Nineteenth-Century Terminology 57 Criteria 64 Hierarchy 69 Conclusion: The Appropriate Term(s) for the Historical Narrative 76 CHAPTER FOUR: REDE ODER RECITATIVE 78 German Critical Thought in 18th- and 19th-Centuries 79 Should German be set to Recitative? 80 The Ideal Libretto for Recitative 86 The Right Type of Recitative 91 What Makes for Good German Recitative? 97 CHAPTER FIVE: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSIC AND TEXT 104 Composer and Librettist Critics 105 What Constitutes a Good Libretto? 108 Music over Text 114 Text over Music 118 Equal Relationship 126 Conclusion 131 v CHAPTER SIX: IN SEARCH OF “EINHEIT” 132 Unity When Parts Add Up to a Whole 140 The Overture’s Contribution to Unity 143 Dramatic Continuity as Unity 149 Unity of Music and Text 152 CHAPTER SEVEN: GERMAN OPERA AND NATIONAL IDENTITY 158 Constructing Histories 161 Defining a National Opera 168 Conclusion 176 CHAPTER EIGHT: A NEW HISTORY OF GERMAN OPERA 178 APPENDIX A: GERMAN OPERA CRITICISM 1798-1830 183 APPENDIX B: MUSICAL EXAMPLES 312 BIBLIOGRAPHY 318 vi LIST OF TABLES 1-1: Histories of “German Romantic Opera” 2-1: German Opera Critics and their Professions/Associations 2-2: New General Music Journals Containing German Opera Reviews 2-3: Theater Journals Containing German Opera Reviews 2-4: General Art and Lifestyle Journals with German Opera Reviews 2-5: German Opera Reviews by Year in the JLM from 1798-1826 2-6: Feuilletons with German Opera Reviews 3-1: Genre Designations Given for Popular Early Nineteenth-Century German Opera 3-2: German Works Identified as “grosse Opern” 3-3: German Works Identified as “Singspiel” 3-4: Das Königstädtische Theater Berlin 1824–25 vii LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES 1. Massinisa: Act III Finale 2. Sofonisbe: Act III Finale 3. Jessonda: Act III Recitative 4. Euryanthe Act II Recitative 5. Euryanthe Act III Recitative 6. Euryanthe Act III Cavatina viii LIST OF JOURNAL ACRONYMS AdB Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek AmA Allgemeiner musikalischer Anzeiger AmZ Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung AmZ(W) Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung (Wien) AT Allgemeine Theaterzeitung BS Berliner Schnellpost für Literatur, Theater, und Gesilligkeit BM Berlinische Monatschrift BamZ Berliner allgemeine musikalische Zeitung BmZ Berlinische musikalische Zeitung BrbK Bibliothek der redenden und bildenden Kunst JLM Journal des Luxus und der Moden LKgK Leipziger Kunstschrift für gebildete Kunstfreunde MgS Morganblatt für die gebildete Stände MH Musikalischer Hausfreund MT Musikalisches Taschenbuch MTZ Münchner Theater-Zeitung NadB Neue allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek NdM Neues deutsches Magazin NtM Neue teutsche Merkur TFhH Taschenbüch für die Freunde des hiesigen Hoftheaters TM Teutsche Merkur WamZ Wiener allgemeine musikalische Zeitung (1813) WT Wiener Theater Zeitung WZ Wiener Zeitschrift für Kunst, Literatur, Theater und Mode ZeW Zeitung für die elegante Welt ix CHAPTER ONE RETHINKING “GERMAN ROMANTIC OPERA” Open a standard history of western music, nineteenth-century music, or opera, and you will inevitably encounter the phrase “German Romantic Opera.” At first the term German Romantic Opera itself is not difficult to swallow, especially as it broadly describes operas given in the German language during a period we usually label “Romantic.” But most histories do not apply the term as a broad designator of all German opera of the early nineteenth century. Instead these texts specifically address the supernatural subject matter and the emphasis on folk-like melodies for a definition. In A History of Western Music (2006), for example, the authors define German Romantic Opera by plots “drawn from medieval history, legend or fairy tale” and a story that “involves supernatural beings and happenings set against a background of wilderness and mystery” with “scenes of humble village or country life” frequently introduced.1 This book and other histories with similar phrases offer a definition for the genre of German Romantic Opera that is really a description of one major work: Carl Maria von Weber’s Der Freischütz (1821). The presentation of this opera and the term German Romantic Opera reflects a process of trying to fill the historical void between Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and the music dramas of Richard Wagner, resulting in teleological narrative. Although there are some other works with similar plot types that fit this model, most German operas produced in the first three decades of the 1 J. Peter Burkholder, Donald J. Grout, and Claude V. Palisca, A History of Western Music, 7th ed. (New York: Norton, 2006), 673. nineteenth century have few resemblances to Weber’s work; for example, Louis Spohr’s Jessonda (1823) is an exotic rescue opera, Ignaz Franz von Mosel’s Salem (1813) an adaptation of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Alceste, and Joseph Weigl’s Baalstürz (1820) a Biblical opera that draws on traditions of the oratorio. Although a general historical survey cannot discuss everything, the presentation of German opera in the early nineteenth century with a narrowly defined genre that serves a teleological narrative is misleading. Another term is needed that acknowledges the diverse pool of works. This dissertation will work to develop this alternative term by considering the broad range of German operas of this time period. Although it is given in most histories, “German Romantic Opera” is a modern phrase that did not develop until the twentieth century.2 Table 1-1 presents a list of several widely read texts in North American music survey courses in order show the broad acceptance of this modern term. Most of these monographs define and employ the actual phrase “German Romantic Opera” to characterize the German opera repertoire of the early nineteenth century. Even more telling is that every one of them excerpts the “Wolf’s Glen Scene” from Der Freischütz for this period, leaving one curious as to whether any further