In a thoughtfully curated concert with commentary, Program Four, “Theatrical Life in Vienna: Hanswurst, Leporello, and Papageno,” scholar Lisa de Alwis investigates the popular Viennese theater traditions that inspired two of Mozart’s best-loved comic characters: Don Giovanni’s Leporello and The Magic Flute’s Papageno. The prototype for both roles was Hanswurst (“Jack Sausage”), a crafty but simple stock character, used for comic relief. Selections will be heard from The Philosopher’s Stone (“Der Stein der Weisen”), a Singspiel based on the same fairy tales as The Magic Flute, and collaboratively created by the same team, with music by Mozart in tandem with Emanuel Schikaneder (The Magic Flute’s commissioner, librettist, and first Papageno), Benedikt Schack (its first Tamino), Franz Xaver Gerl (its first Sarastro), and Johann Baptist Henneberg (its first conductor). Other excerpted works include The Nymph of the Danube (“Das Donauweibchen”), one of the most popular operas of the day, by the prolific Austrian composer Ferdinand Kauer.
PROGRAM
11 am • Performance with commentary by Lisa de Alwis; with Catherine Creed, soprano; Aaron Blake, tenor; Devon Russo, bass-baritone; Anna Polonsky and Victoria Schwartzman, piano
Wenzel Müller (1767–1835)
From Die Schwestern von Prag (1794)
“Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu”
Ferdinand Kauer (1751–1831)
From Das Donauweibchen (1798)
“Einst ging ein junger Rittersmann”
“Man sagt sich heimlich in das Ohr”
Wenzel Müller
From Das Neusonntagskind (1793)
“Lieber, kleiner Gott der Liebe”
From Das Sonnenfest der Braminen (1790)
“Unbeständig wie der Wind”
Josepha Auernhammer (1758–1820)
Six Variations on “Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja” (ca. 1792)
Anna Polonsky, piano
Peter von Winter (1754–1825)
From Das Labyrinth (1798)
“Lalalera”
“Gelt Weibchen jetzt wirst du mir’s glauben”
Wolfgang Amadé Mozart (1756–91), Johann Baptist Henneberg (1768–1822), Benedikt Schack (1758–1826), Franz Xaver Gerl (1764–1827), and Emanuel Schikaneder (1751–1812)
From Der Stein der Weisen (The Philosopher’s Stone) (1790)
“Alle Wetter! O ihr Götter!” (attr. Henneberg)
“Nun, liebes Weibchen, ziehst mit mir” (attr. Mozart)
“Miau” (attr. Mozart)
“Mein einziger, liebster Nadir!” (attr. Schikaneder)
Paul Wranitzky (1756–1808)
From Oberon, König der Elfen (1789)
“Hör, o Schicksal, meine Klagen”
“Des Lebens Freuden fühlt’ ich noch nie”
Mozart, Henneberg, Schack, Gerl, Schikaneder
From Der Stein der Weisen
“Du bist erhört, o Weib, dein Bitten drang zu mir”—
“In finstrer Höhlenkluft verschlossen” (attr. Gerl)
Peter von Winter
From Das Labyrinth
“Dieser Kuss”
Paul Wranitzky
From Oberon, König der Elfen
“Dies ist des edlen Hyons Sprache”
Mozart, Henneberg, Schack, Gerl, Schikaneder
From Der Stein der Weisen
“Tralleralara! Trallerala!” (attr. Gerl)