Erwin & Elmire (2010)

SHORT SYNOPSIS

Elmire has been deserted by her sweetheart Erwin because of her apparent coldness and is now heartbroken about her loss. Her mother Olympia and her teacher and friend Bernardo try to cheer her up without success. Finally, Bernardo has an idea: Elmire should confide in an old and wise hermit who lives in a romantic hut in the forest. This hermit is Erwin in disguise, set up by no other than Bernardo. Erwin now hears from Elmire's own lips that she loves him.

RIGHTS

German speaking territories available from Norbert Meyn at Liedertheatre London, UK. 
www.liedertheatre.co.uk - norbertmeyn@mac.com

Rest of the world from our sales agent Carlos Alperin at Galloping Films Brisbane, Australia.
www.gallopingfilms.com - carlos@gallopingfilms.com

LONG SYNOPSIS

ERWIN & ELMIRE is an opera in two acts by Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbuettel, with a libretto by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, after Oliver Goldsmith's ballad of Angelica and Edwin in his sentimental novel The Vicar of Wakefield. Goethe (1749-1832) moved to Weimar in November 1775. There he was introduced to Anna Amalia (1739-1807), the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, a formidable political figure who was also a fine amateur composer. Goethe's arrival in Weimar coincided with her partial withdrawal from political life as her son had reached the age of maturity, and Anna seized the opportunity to provide her own setting of ERWIN & ELMIRE for the Court Theatre, where it was first performed on 24 May 1776.

Olympia, mother of Elmire, laments the restrictive social graces of the young and reminisces on the carefree days of her own youth. Elmire, her daughter, appears and seems inconsolable, she tries in vain to cheer her up. After Olympia departs, we discover that Elmire is distressed because she believes her cold behavior towards Erwin, her lowly born suitor, has caused him to disappear. Bernardo, Elmire's instructor and mentor, overhears her self-reproaches and is able to persuade her to meet an old hermit in a secluded valley. There, he promises, she will find joy in her heart once more. Bernardo finds Erwin in his hideaway and announces that Elmire will shortly visit him unaware of his true identity. He disguises Erwin as a hermit. When Elmire arrives, she proceeds to make a confession, admitting to having driven her lover to despair by feigning indifference in deference to social propriety. Erwin, convinced at last that Elmire really loves him, reveals his true identity to the delight of all concerned.

The score is testament to the high level of musical attainment of the composer. Anna Amalia draws upon models from both opera seria, opera buffa, and folk song to create a successful dramatic whole, one in which all four protagonists are characterized as much by the nuances provided by the musical accompaniment as by the content and register of the words they speak. The predominantly buffa style, for instance, is ideal for a character like Bernardo who shares its potent mix of humor and humanity. On the other hand the lovers' passion is aptly reflected in the application of the concerted style common to opera seria. Elmire's remorse gives rise to a strophic song (Ein Veilchen; a violet) that, through its unassuming lyricism, leaves us in no doubt as to her sincerity. And Erwin's opening aria (Ihr verbluehet suesse Rosen; you withered, sweet roses) amounts to a musical ennoblement - which, given he is in fact of lowly birth, suggests that neither Amalia nor Goethe sought to restrict a noble temperament merely to those of noble birth. The dramatic effectiveness of these stylistic adaptations marks Anna Amalia's ERWIN & ELMIRE as a major early achievement in the development of German Opera.