The
Emperor's New Clothes
Chamber Opera
after H. Christian Andersen
with a libretto by Oscar Gitzinger, op. 10 (1955)
Cast:
The Emperor - Bass
The Lord Chamberlain - Tenor
The General - Tenor
The Finance Minister - Baritone
The Theatre Director - Bass
Christian - Tenor
Jacques - Baritone
A messenger - spoken part
A child - spoken part
Woman's voice - solo soprano
Attendants of the Emperor - male voices
The People - mixed chorus
Orchestra: Flute, Oboe, Clarinet in B-Flat, Bassoon, Trumpet in C, Percussion,Piano (or Harpsichord), Viola, Violoncello, Double Bass
Première:
June 19, 1957, Freiburg, Städtische Bühnen
Orchester der Städtischen Bühnen Freiburg / Günther Wich
Fotos of the premiére: Foto
1 Foto
2 Foto
3 Foto
4 Foto
5
Duration: 55 Minutes
Publisher: Manuskript
Libretto:
Video: Works by Hummel on youtube
Plot of
the Opera
(extract from the Programme of the
Städtische Bühnen Freiburg, 1957)
1st Scene
In an anteroom of the clothing cabinet, the courtiers
await the appearance of the Emperor. In a terzetto, the
General, the Finance Minister and the Theatre Director
complain of their forced idleness and the neglect of the
affairs of state, which are as a result of the Emperor's
obsession with clothes very close to ruin. The Lord
Chamberlain enters and tells of two men who have turned
up at court and promised to make the Emperor clothes
more beautiful than any ever seen before. These clothes
have in addition a very remarkable property: for anyone
who is unforgivably stupid or unfit for his office, they
remain invisible!
2nd Scene
Christian and Jacques in private. The two miraculous
tailors admit frankly their "craft of air and blue
vapour" and make jokes over the credulity of the court.
The music parodies modern dance rhythms and represents
at the same time the working of the imaginary looms on
which, out of the materials of human vanity and
curiosity, the "Emperor's new clothes" are created. When the
Lord Chamberlain appears, a scene of ironic reverence
develops. Christian and Jacques willingly display
their "magnificent fabrics" and surpass each other in
praising them to the courtier.
The
shock of the Chamberlain is rapidly transformed into
hypocritical and forceful admiration. The reliance of
the miraculous tailors on human weakness is rewarded, in
triumph Christian and Jacques sing mocking songs after
the departing Chamberlain.
3rd Scene
Curiosity brings the people together in front of the
Emperor's palace, where behind a window the shadows of
Christian and Jacques are to be seen. A servant
announces the approach of the Emperor, who, dressed in
exaggerated magnificence, attracts the attention of the
people. The Emperor is surprised at the crowds before
his palace so late in the evening. Discovering the
reason, he promises the people a triumphal procession
for the next day, in which he will display the wonderful
new clothes.
4th Scene
Emperor and attendants in the throne-room in nervous
anticipation of the great moment. Christian and Jacques
frisk into the room, carrying the Emperor's "new
clothes" on their arms. Confusion overcomes the company:
where then are the new clothes? For the third time, a
transformation from critical soberness to euphoric
hypocrisy takes place. Emperor and courtiers outdo each
other with exclamations of ecstatic enthusiasm, at the
climax of which Christian and Jacques, in a solemn
Arioso, are named court tailors and weavers and receive
rich rewards.
5th Scene
With jubilation, the people acclaim the triumphal
procession of the Emperor. Strutting in with great
dignity under the baldachin, the Emperor receives the
ovations, proud and touched. All voices unite in
spirited jubilation. But here events take a new turn: a
child's simple conclusion that the Emperor does not have
any clothes on at all causes the veil of hypocrisy and
self-deceit to tear and opens the doors for outpourings
of mockery upon the conceit of the clothes-mad monarch.
The Emperor, awaking out of his fantasy, declares
himself to be at fault. He is prepared to take the
public humiliation upon himself without mitigation. But
now the child speaks for the second time and awakes in
the crowd a sense of their share of the blame. The lie
is exposed. With renewed shouts of loyalty, the people
gather protectively round the Emperor. In the closing
fugue, a conclusion is drawn, deliberately moralising
and thus coming close to dissolving everything into
irony: let every man beat his own breast. Above the
derision and laughter, a conciliatory perspective is
opened upon the weakness that all mankind shares in
common.
The 31 year-old Genzmer pupil Bertold Hummel has joined the individual scenes together in strict musical forms. The instrumentation underlines the grotesque in each situation, without however being confined to pure illustration. The composer scored, besides soloists and chorus, for a modest chamber orchestra, - four woodwind, a trumpet, three violas, two cellos, a double bass and piano, complemented by copious percussion requiring two players.
Hummel's chamber opera 'Emperor's New Clothes' is
composed in the musical style of the 1920s and 1930s.
After the First World War, this was an extraordinarily
interesting time in artistic terms. I'm thinking of the
operas by Hindemith, Weill, Stravinsky and others. For
Hummel, measured against his entire oeuvre, this was a
musical excursion into a different style. I think this is
legitimate if it is done perfectly, as in this case. The
subject matter of the fairy tale has a timeless truth.
Hummel's music lives from caricature-like musical
gestures, which must also be staged, not in the sense of
the premiere production, which can be guessed from the
stage photos, but almost like in the 'Theatre of the
Absurd'. In this sense, I could very well imagine a
production of Hummel's chamber opera. You need a 'crazy'
director for such a project.
Thomas Alfred Müller, 2024
Press
Mannheimer
Morgen 29th June, 1957
"A musical
setting for the Emperor's new clothes"
World
première of a chamber opera by Bertold Hummel in
Freiburg.
The chronically
embarrassing repertoire of light-hearted works for the
German operatic stage has now gained after the "Revisor"
by Werner Egk a new opportunity in Freiburg: in the
Großes Haus, "The Emperor's New Clothes", a
chamber opera by the 31 year-old Genzmer pupil Bertold
Hummel receives its première . The Libretto by Oskar
Gitzinger renders Hans Christian Andersen's satirical
fairy-tale in a rapid scenic sequence, portraying the
Emperor befogged in his self-conceit and eventually, the
victim of two charlatans, strutting in, amidst the
jubilation of his blindly credulous subjects, dressed in
underpants. Only the ingenuous words of a child manage
to expose the rather naked truth. Emperor and subjects
admit their self-deceit and confess jointly their guilt.
Bertold Hummel has risked the leap from the field of
church music into the milieu of these light-hearted,
moralising yarn-spinners and swindlers. He has brought
the individual scenes together in strict musical forms
and accompanied the burlesque developments with a
chamber orchestra of four woodwinds, a trumpet, three
violas, two cellos, a double bass, piano and copious
percussion with partly illustrative, partly contrapuntal
music. Despite the demands made on soloists and chorus,
his music is easy to listen to, although the
instrumentation occasionally showed gaps.
The world première in Freiburg under the musical
direction of Günther Wich was staged by Reinhard Lehmann
with particularly charming scenery by Renate Riß,
crowned with elegantly curved clothes-hangers. The
Emperor was sung by Carl Schlottmann. The entertaining
little work was given a friendly welcome by the
audience.
SUz.