Carl Maria von Weber - Abu Hassan (1811) - No. 1. Sinfonia & Introduction to the Conflict

"Abu Hassan" is a German singspiel in one act by a young Carl Maria von Weber, one of his first successes, in fact, a light, vivacious work that was well received at its' Munich premiere which took place on June 4, 1811. The libretto, written by Franz Carl Hiemer, was derived from "Le dormier eveille" or "The sleeper awakened" by Antoine Galland, in turn relating one of the tales of the "Thousand & One Arabian Nights" which were, in part, the chief instigators of the Turkish craze that steadily transmitted into a series of operas set in the Middle East and Africa, including Mozart's "L'oca del Cairo" and, more famously, "Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail" and Rossini's "L'italiana in Algeri", to name just a few examples. Weber's librettist actually used only the second half of the story, while the entire piece was later set by Meyerbeer's 1815 "Lustspiel Wirth und Gast".

The subject of this comic work concerns a debtor, Abu Hassan (tenor), and his wife, Fatime (soprano), and their efforts to outsmart the Caliph (and his creditor, Omar (bass)) and gain from him the money allotted for their supposed funerals, so that they can pay their debts and live in ease. They are both beset by creditors as the opera opens (as was Weber himself at the time of the opera's composition; in fact, Franz Carl Hiemer, a friend from Weber's Stuttgart days where they both had been frequently in debt, sent Weber the libretto in March of 1810, while the composer slowly set the opera in the following several months). Thankfully, all ends happily for all (except the wicked Omar who is imprisoned for his misdeeds by the Caliph (spoken role)).

The 1944 recording that I am using is quite wonderful in both the orchestra's vivid playing and the soloists' well-characterized singing (with the tenor being a possessor of a slightly dry but believable in the context of the role voice), while the sound quality is not as clear as it could have been, though it does not distract from the overall enjoyment of the piece and the performance:

Leopold Ludwig - Conductor,
Berliner Rundfunk-Sinfonie Orchester - Orchestra,
Berliner Rundfunk-Sinfonie Chor - Chorus.

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf - Fatima,
Erich Witte - Abu Hassan,
Michael Bohnen - Omar.

For this series of uploads I decided to present solely the music material, while omitting the dialogue and the opening recitative of the tenor's aria and much of the creditors' chorus (here limited to the final stretta) to post the opera in just four uploads (the work is actually quite short, lasting about an hour); I've also made some changes to the order in which the numbers appear in the opera (I will, of course, mention these replacements in the description), forming a slightly more conventional but more or less logically developing structure.

Sinfonia. The opera opens by a sprightly theme, pianissimo, which, after development, is followed by a fortissimo passage (the melodic material of the section is used throughout the sinfonia to link the main portions); the second gentle theme, stated by the winds, follows; a third theme of a grandiose nature closes the opening section, and is followed by a free fantasia which leads to the return of the first theme. In the concluding section the first and third themes are followed by a brilliant, sprightly final coda. All this is packed into a three minute musical number, the brevity of which only highlights the complexity of the structure.

I (II in opera). Aria for Abu - "O Fatime! meine Traute" (omitting the recitative and the opening allegro). Both Fatime and Abu have solo arias with which to display their vocal expertise, and we begin with Abu's only solo piece, wonderfully accompanied by two guitars and a warm-voiced bassoon as he sings of his love for Fatime, while the piece closes with enough vocal virtuosity to rival that of his wife.

II (III in opera). Scene for Abu, Omar & Chorus - "Ja, ja, ja!". In this particular case, the retained section of the chorus, a particularly busy agreement of the creditors to give Abu just a bit more time "to obtain" the necessary money to pay them off (a steady decrescendo of sound follows, as the crowd disperses; the whole section reminds one immediately of the stretta to the introduction of Rossini's "Il barbiere"), almost works as a stretta for a possible introduction for the whole work.

III. (I in opera). Duettino for Abu & Fatime - "Liebes Weibchen". The duettino for the couple introduces us both to the main characters, while the basic situation is related. The piece is superbly vivacious but Weber introduces a slightly more darker mood in the central section highlighted by the winds' light descents; however, the ending returns to the original airy character, as husband and wife resolve to deal with their torments as optimistically as they can.

Hope you'll enjoy :).

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Weber
• romantic
• classical
• belcanto
• coloratura

[jrpim17]

Difficile de n'être pas "enjoyed" ! Thank's LindoroRossini.

[dustangelanderson]

love carl maria von weber

[memberita]

cooooooool