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Information about Lohengrin (opera)

Operas by Richard Wagner
 •  • [ e]
Die Hochzeit (1832)
Die Feen (1833)
Das Liebesverbot (1836)
Rienzi (1840)
Der fliegende Hollnder (1843)
Tannhuser (1845)
Lohengrin (1848)
Der Ring des Nibelungen: Das Rheingold (1854)
Der Ring des Nibelungen: Die Walkre (1856)
Tristan und Isolde (1859)
Die Meistersinger von Nrnberg (1867)
Der Ring des Nibelungen: Siegfried (1871)
Der Ring des Nibelungen: Gtterdmmerung (1874)
Parsifal (1882)
Lohengrin is a romantic opera (or music drama) in three acts by Richard Wagner, who also wrote the libretto. The first production was in Weimar, Germany on 28 August 1850 under the direction of Franz Liszt, a close friend and early supporter of Wagner. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach and its sequel, Lohengrin, composed by a different author. It is part of the Knight of the Swan tradition.

Lohengrin was an immediate popular success. Several excerpts have become famous, including the preludes to the first and third acts, Lohengrin's aria In fernem Land, the opening music to Act II, Scene 4, which has been converted into the concert band piece "Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral," and the Bridal Chorus, which is traditionally played at Western weddings, and is commonly known as "Here Comes the Bride."

Among those deeply moved by the fairy-tale opera was the young King Ludwig II of Bavaria, who later built the ideal fairy-tale castle and called it, after the Swan Knight, "New Swan Stone," or "Neuschwanstein." The opening scene of the opera may be interpreted as a thinly veiled exhortation to Ludwig to unite Germany under his own flag. It was King Ludwig's patronage that later gave Wagner the means and opportunity to build a theatre for, compose and stage his Ring of the Nibelung.

Roles

Role Voice type Premiere Cast, August 28, 1850
(Conductor: Franz Liszt)
LohengrintenorCarl Beck
Elsa of BrabantsopranoRosa Agathe von Milde
Ortrud, Telramund's wifesopranoFastlinger
Friedrich of Telramund, a Count of BrabantbaritoneFeodor von Milde
Heinrich der Vogler (Henry the Fowler)bassHöfer
The King's HeraldbassAugust Pätsch
Four Noblemen of Brabanttenors, basses
Four Pagessopranos, altos
Duke Gottfried, Elsa's brothersilentHellstedt
Saxon, Thuringian, and Brabantian counts and nobles, ladies of honor, pages, vassals, serfs

Plot

Place: Antwerp, on the Scheldt.
Time: the tenth century.

Act I

King Henry the Fowler has arrived in Brabant and assembles the German tribes to expel the Hungarians from his dominions. Count Telramund acts as regent for Duke Gottfried of Brabant, who is a minor, and brother to Elsa. Gottfried has mysteriously disappeared and Telramund, incited by his wife, Ortrud, accuses Elsa of her brother's murder. He also demands the dukedom. Elsa appears, surrounded by her attendants. Knowing herself innocent, she declares that she is willing to submit to the judgment of God by the ordeal of combat. She chooses as her champion a knight she has beheld in her dreams. (Narrative: "Alone in dark days.") She sinks to her knees and prays God to send her relief. Telramund, at the behest of the king, agrees to fight. The Herald at first calls in vain upon the unknown knight, but when he calls the second time a miracle takes place. A boat appears on the river, drawn by a swan: in it is a knight in shining armour. He lands, dismisses the swan, respectfully greets the king and asks Elsa if she will have him as her champion. Elsa kneels to him and places her honour in his keeping. He makes but one condition: she is never to ask him who he is or where he has come from. Elsa agrees to this, prayers are said, and the place of combat is prepared. Telramund is defeated. The victor grants him his life and, taking Elsa by the hand, declares her innocence, and asks her hand in marriage.

Act II

The courtyard outside the cathedral. It is night. Telramund and Ortrud, who have been banished, appear in tattered garments. Ortrud tries to revive Telramund's courage. She is a heathen, the daughter of Radbod, the duke of Frisia, and deals in magic. She schemes to induce Elsa to ask Lohengrin the forbidden questions. When Elsa appears on the balcony in the light of the morning, she sees Ortrud and pities her. Telramund, unobserved, retires into the shadow of a house. The populace assembles and the Herald announces that the king has offered to make the unnamed knight Duke of Brabant. However, he refuses the title and wishes to be known only as "Guardian of Brabant." As the king, Lohengrin, Elsa and her attendants are about to enter the church, Ortrud, clad in magnificent attire, appears and accuses Lohengrin of being a magician, whose name Elsa herself does not know. Telramund also appears and claims to have been vanquished by fraud, as he does not know the name of his opponent. Lohengrin refuses to reveal his identity, saying that one only has the right to know his origin. To Elsa alone will he answer. Elsa, though obviously shaken and uncertain, assures him of her confidence, and they enter the church.

Act III

The bridal chamber. Elsa and Lohengrin are ushered in with the well-known bridal chorus. They express their love for each other, but Ortrud's words are impressed upon Elsa, and, despite Lohengrin's warning, she asks the fatal question. Telramund rushes in to attack the knight, but is slain by Lohengrin, who sorrowfully turns to Elsa, and asks her to follow him to the king, to whom he will now reveal the mystery. Change of scene: On the banks of the Scheldt, as in Act I. The troops arrive equipped for war. Telramund's corpse is brought in, and Lohengrin defends his act. One thing remains, he must now disclose his identity to the king and Elsa. He tells the story of the Holy Grail, and reveals himself as Lohengrin, knight of the Holy Grail, and son of King Parsifal. The time for his return has arrived, he has only tarried to prove Elsa's innocence. As he sadly bids farewell to his beloved bride, the swan reappears. Lohengrin prays that Elsa may recover her lost brother, and lo! the swan dives into the river and appears again in the form of Gottfried, Elsa's brother, who had been turned into a swan by Ortrud's magic arts. A dove descends from heaven, and taking the place of the swan leads Lohengrin in his boat back to the castle of the Holy Grail. Elsa, however, is stricken with grief, and falls dead to the ground, longing for her beloved.

Media

References

Plot taken from The Opera Goer's Complete Guide by Leo Melitz, 1921 version.

CD recordings of Lohengrin

  • Woldemar Nelsson conducting the Bayreuth Festival. Released in 1982 by CBS.
  • Sir Georg Solti conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker (Vienna Philharmonic). Released in 2003 by Decca.
  • Claudio Abbado conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker. Released in 1995 by Deutsche Grammophone.
  • Rudolf Kempe conducting the Wiener Philharmoniker. Released in 2000 by EMI Classics.
  • Silvio Varviso conducting the Kungliga Teaterns Hovkapellet. Released in 2002 by Ponto Records.
  • Sir Colin Davis conducting the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra). Released in 1995 by RCA Red Seal.
  • Daniel Barenboim conducting the Staatskapelle Berlin. Released in 1998 by Teldec.
  • Eugen Jochum conducting the Orchestra and Chorus of the Bayreuth Festival (live-1954). Released in 1998 by Opera d'Oro/IODA.

External links

Wilhelm Richard Wagner (22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883) was a German composer, conductor, music theorist, and essayist, primarily known for his operas (or "music dramas" as they were later called).
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Die Hochzeit (The Wedding) is an unfinished opera by Richard Wagner which predates all his completed works in the genre. Wagner completed the libretto, then started composing the music in the second half of 1832 when he was just nineteen.
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Die Feen (The Fairies) is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner, with a libretto by the composer after Carlo Gozzi's La donna serpente.

Die Feen was Wagner's first completed opera, but was not performed in his lifetime.
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Das Liebesverbot (The Ban on Love) is an early opera in two acts by Richard Wagner, with the libretto written by the composer after Shakespeare's Measure for Measure.
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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.
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Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman) is an opera, with music and libretto by Richard Wagner. The story comes from the legend of the Flying Dutchman, about a ship captain condemned to sail until Judgment Day.
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Der Ring des Nibelungen, (The Ring of the Nibelung), is a cycle of four epic music dramas by the German composer Richard Wagner. The operas are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied.
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Das Rheingold ("The Rhine Gold") is the first of the four operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), by Richard Wagner. It received its premiere at the National Theatre in Munich on 22 September 1869, with August Kindermann in the role of
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Der Ring des Nibelungen, (The Ring of the Nibelung), is a cycle of four epic music dramas by the German composer Richard Wagner. The operas are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied.
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Tristan und Isolde (Tristan and Isolde) is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg.
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Der Ring des Nibelungen, (The Ring of the Nibelung), is a cycle of four epic music dramas by the German composer Richard Wagner. The operas are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied.
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Siegfried is the third of the four operas that comprise Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung), by Richard Wagner. It received its premiere at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 16 August 1876, as part of the first complete performance of
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Der Ring des Nibelungen, (The Ring of the Nibelung), is a cycle of four epic music dramas by the German composer Richard Wagner. The operas are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied.
..... Click the link for more information.
Parsifal is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the medieval (13th century) epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival (Percival) and his quest for the Holy Grail.
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Opera is a form of musical and dramatic work in which singers convey the drama.[1] Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition.[2] An opera performance incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and
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Wilhelm Richard Wagner (22 May 1813 – 13 February 1883) was a German composer, conductor, music theorist, and essayist, primarily known for his operas (or "music dramas" as they were later called).
..... Click the link for more information.
libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, sacred or secular oratorio and cantata, musical, and ballet. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass and requiem.
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Weimar

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August 28 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining.

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Franz Liszt (Hungarian: Liszt Ferenc; pronounced /lɪst/, in English: list) (October 22 1811 – July 31 1886) was a Hungarian [1] virtuoso pianist and composer of the Romantic period.
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Parzival is a major medieval German epic poem attributed to the poet Wolfram von Eschenbach, written in the Middle High German language. The poem is commonly dated circa the first quarter of the 13th century.
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Wolfram von Eschenbach (born c. 1170, died c. 1220) was a German knight and poet, regarded as one of the greatest epic poets of his time. As a Minnesinger, he also wrote lyric poetry.
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Lohengrin is a character in some German Arthurian literature. The son of Parzival (Percival), he is a knight of the Holy Grail sent in a boat pulled by swans to rescue a maiden who can never ask his identity. His story is a version of the Knight of the Swan legend.
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Knight of the Swan, or Swan Knight, is a medieval tale about a mysterious rescuer who comes in a swan-drawn boat to defend a damsel, his only condition being that he must never be asked his name.
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A prelude is a short piece of music, usually in no particular internal form, which may serve as an introduction to succeeding movements of a work that are usually longer and more complex.
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aria (Italian for air; plural: arie or arias in common usage) in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer.
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A concert band, also called wind band, symphonic band, symphonic winds, wind orchestra, wind symphony, or wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of several members of the woodwind instrument family, brass instrument family and
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The "Bridal Chorus" from the opera Lohengrin, by German composer Richard Wagner, is the standard march played for the bride's entrance at most formal weddings in the United States and at many weddings throughout the Western world.
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King Ludwig II

Reign 10 March 1864-13 June 1886
Born 25 July 1845(1845--)
Nymphenburg Palace
Died 13 May 1886 (aged 42)
Lake Starnberg
Buried St.
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