Die Bürgschaft (opera)

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Operas and musicals by
Kurt Weill
Der Protagonist 1926
Mahagonny-Songspiel 1927
Der Zar lässt sich
photographieren		 1928
The Threepenny Opera 1928
Happy End 1929
Der Lindberghflug (with Paul Hindemith) 1929
The Rise and Fall of
the City of Mahagonny		 1930
Der Jasager 1930
Die Bürgschaft 1932
Der Silbersee 1933
The Seven Deadly Sins 1933
Der Kuhhandel 1935
Johnny Johnson 1936
The Eternal Road 1937
Knickerbocker Holiday 1938
Lady in the Dark 1940
One Touch of Venus 1943
The Firebrand of Florence 1945
Street Scene 1946
Down in the Valley 1948
Love Life 1948
Lost in the Stars 1949
v • d • e

Die Bürgschaft (The Pledge) is an opera by Kurt Weill. Caspar Neher wrote the German libretto after the parable Der afrikanische Rechtspruch (The African Verdict) by Johann Gottfried Herder. Composed from August to October 1931, it was premiered on 10 March 1932 at the Städtische Oper in Berlin, Germany.

The opera dates from the years immediately prior to Weill's emigration to the United States. Representing "the summation of Weill's career as an opera composer in Europe,"[1] it provides insight into the compositional path Weill might have followed had he stayed in Europe.[2] Die Bürgschaft is an opera of broad ambition and scope, far more somber in tone than Weill's prior works for the stage.[3] The work is in part the result of Weill's growing distance from Brecht during work on Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, leading the composer to turn to Neher, his longtime collaborator as a stage director, for the libretto.[4] Die Bürgschaft is, further, a product of its political climate, dubbed by Weill an opera that "attempts to adopt a position on matters that concern us all," and one of multiple Weill stage works of this period "addressing the problem of moral responsibility within a crumbling culture given over to greed, power, and inhumanity."[5] As Weill wrote in reaction to a review of the opera's premiere, "the job of opera today consists in reaching out beyond the fate of private individuals towards universality."[6] In addition to its sobriety and political undertones, Die Bürgschaft is a musical turning point for Weill. Weill characterized it as "a return to real music-making."[7] Multiple scholars have noted its departure from the "number opera" formula of works such as Die Dreigroschenoper and Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny in exchange for a more continuous sound, as well as a minimizing of satire and irony.[8] Certain of these scholars have also noted influences ranging from Handel and Verdi in its oratorio-like features to a detached and unemotional character indebted to Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex.[9]

Die Bürgschaft concerns the rise to power of a money-driven dictatorship, bringing with it greed and destruction. The plot bears clear parallels with the rise of Nazism in Germany at the time, but as suggested above it also acts as a larger social parable dealing with man's role in society.[10] Indeed, the source for Herder's tale Der afrikanische Rechtspruch, on which Neher's libretto was based, is the "baba metzia" section of the Talmud. Interpreted accordingly, the social parable of Die Bürgschaft is the covenant of rabbinical teaching: the bonds between men, between men and their community, and between forces within the community of men such as the law, the state, and the government.[11]

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[edit] Performance history

After its 1932 Berlin premiere, Die Bürgschaft was produced in two additional German cities in 1932, Wiesbaden and Düsseldorf, before political events led to its removal from the German stage.[12] After two radio revivals of heavily edited, if not mutilated, versions of the opera in 1957 and 1980, respectively, the original version was performed in Bielefeld in 1998.[13] One German critic noted of the Bielefeld production that "all the intendants of Germany's top-ranking opera houses should be required to attend a performance."[14] Soon after, the original version received its American premiere, and first recording, at the 1999 Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, West Virginia, under Julius Rudel.[15] Music critic for the Wall Street Journal, Heidi Waleson, wrote of the opera, in a review the Spoleto Festival production, that Die Bürgschaft is "a stunning work that knits together Weill's intense social and political concerns with compositional skill and invention of the highest order."[16]

[edit] Roles

Role Voice type Premiere Cast,
10 March 1932
(Conductor: - )
Johann Mattes, a cattle dealer in the town of Urb baritone
Anna Mattes, Johann's wife mezzo-soprano
David Orth, a grain dealer in the town of Urb bass)
Jakob Orth, David's son tenor
Luise Mattes, Johann & Anna's daughter tenor
The Judge of Urb tenor
The Town Crier tenor
Ellis, the Commissar tenor
Gang of Three Creditors/Highwaymen/Blackmailers/Agents tenor, baritone, bass
Alto solo alto

[edit] Selected recordings

[edit] References

  1. ^ Stephen Hinton: "Die Bürgschaft", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 13 November 2007), <http://www.grovemusic.com>.
  2. ^ "Die Bürgschaft", All Media Guide (Accessed 13 November 2007), <http://wm08.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=42:382891~T1>.
  3. ^ Id.
  4. ^ Kim H. Kowalke: "Kurt Weill's Die Bürgschaft", Liner Notes to the EMI Classics 2000 Recording of Die Bürgschaft (2000).
  5. ^ Id.
  6. ^ Hinton, supra.
  7. ^ Kowalke, supra.
  8. ^ All Media Guide, Hinton, & Kowalke, supra.
  9. ^ Hinton & Kowalke, supra.
  10. ^ All Media Guide, supra.
  11. ^ Kowalke, supra.
  12. ^ Id.
  13. ^ Id.
  14. ^ Id.
  15. ^ Id.
  16. ^ Id.
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