In the first decades
of the 17th century, Italy was the place
to be for many musicians from all over
Europe. The birth of the 'seconda prattica'
was a development which shook the musical
world. And Germany was one of the countries
whose composers crossed the Alpes to
listen and learn. Once they returned
their heads were full of the new concepts
they had got acquainted with in Italy.
One of the features
of the ‘new style’ was the emergence
of the opera. As keen as many composers
were to imitate the newest trends in
instrumental and vocal music in Italy,
apparently the opera was a much more
difficult phenomenon to copy. One German
composer who was strongly influenced
by Italian music was Heinrich Schütz.
It is generally thought that it was
he who, with 'Dafne' in 1627, wrote
the first German opera. But since the
music is lost it is impossible to be
sure that his work can really be considered
an opera.
Due to the loss of
'Dafne' it is 'Seelewig' by Sigmund
Theophil Staden which is now considered
the first German opera. It was first
performed in Nuremberg in 1644. The
composer didn't call it an opera, though.
Its title is, translated: 'The Sacred
Wood Poem or Comedy, called Seelewig,
set in singing style in the Italian
manner'. It is a morality play in which
it is shown "how the evil enemy seeks
to ruin pious souls in many various
ways and how these, however, are kept
from eternal damnation by God's word,
through conscience and reason."
The subject of this
moral drama is not unlike that of Emilio
de' Cavalieri's 'Rappresentazione di
Anima e di Corpo', which was first performed
in 1600. It is not known whether the
librettist of Seelewig, Georg Philipp
Harsdörffer (1607 - 1658), was
aware of De' Cavalieri's work, but he
travelled to Italy in 1627, so he must
have been aware of what was going on
out there. On the other hand, this kind
of moral dramas were pretty common in
those days, and also used by the Jesuits
to promote the ideals of the Counter-Reformation.
As usual in pieces
like this the characters are symbolic:
Seelewig (pronunciated 'seel-ewig')
means 'eternal soul', symbolising any
pious person. She is threatened by Satan,
here called Trügewalt (this name
refers to the German verb ‘trügen’,
to deceive), who uses Seelewig's companion
Sinnigunda (Sensuality) to achieve his
goal. He also convinces three shepherds
- Künsteling, Ehrelob and Reichimuth
- to work for him. The opposing forces
are Herzigilt (Reason) and Gwissulda
(Conscience).
Although the title
refers to 'the Italian manner' one shouldn't
expect anything like the operas by Monteverdi
(whose Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria
and L'incoronazione di Poppea date from
1641 and 1642 respectively). The story
develops through short dialogues of
the protagonists, but these can't be
considered recitatives. The mostly strophic
songs are relatively simple and very
close to the early 17th century German
secular song. At the end of the second
act Eitelkeit sings a song – ‘Lied über
die Eitelkeit’-, which doesn't belong
to Seelewig, and which stylistically
isn't any different from the music in
the ‘opera’.
This doesn’t mean there
are not connections to the Italian opera
at all. These are in particular the
use of instruments to support specific
characters, and also the practice of
echo-effects. These are used to strongly
dramatic effect in the third act, in
the exchange between Seelewig, Sinnigunda
and Trügewalt (who, otherwise singing
in bass range, uses the falsetto to
deceive Seelewig).
Whereas I think Monteverdi's
operas can be heard without any staging
or acting, I have the feeling this is
more difficult with Seelewig. While
listening I often thought something
was missing. That is partly due to the
performance, though. The music as such
is good enough to listen to, but there
seems to be a lack of real interaction
between the singers. I also feels the
tempi are a little slowish. A bit more
involvement and passion wouldn't harm.
In general the singing
and playing is rather good. In particular
Monika Mauch, Hans Jörg Mammel
and Ulrich Maier stand out in portraying
their characters. I wondered why Franziska
Gottwald is listed as a mezzosoprano,
since she sounds more like a deep contralto.
The part of Gwissulda is quite low;
in a live performance in the Holland
Festival of 1975 this part was sung
by a high tenor.
I was also puzzled
by the parts of Ehrelob and Reichimuth
in the third scene of the first act.
I am sure that the words of Reichimuth
are sung here by Hans Jörg Mammel
and the words of Ehrelob by Armin Gottstein
(out of touch with the cast, because
of his unstylish vibrato). The only
solution I can think of is that in this
recording the words of Reichimuth have
been given to Ehrelob and vice versa,
although the libretto in the booklet
gives the lines to the characters as
indicated in the original. As far as
the content is concerned it doesn't
make any real difference, but I would
have liked to read something about it
in the liner notes, which are otherwise
very informative.
In regard to repertoire
this is a very important recording,
and one wonders why it has taken so
long before this work has been recorded.
And as far as I know it is hardly ever
performed, although I am sure it would
make a very good piece of theatre. From
that perspective it is disappointing
that the interpretation is good, but
not entirely satisfying. With a little
more flair and imagination it could
have been much better. And it is also
a shame that some cuts have been made.
Perhaps the attention Seelewig deserves
will only come through a staged performance
on DVD.
Johan van Veen
I
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