''Der Zwerg'' (''The Dwarf''), Op. 17, is an

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

in one act by Austrian composer

Alexander von Zemlinsky Alexander Zemlinsky or Alexander von Zemlinsky (14 October 1871 – 15 March 1942) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and teacher. Biography Early life Zemlinsky was born in Vienna to a highly diverse family. Zemlinsky's grandfather, Anton S ...

to a libretto by

Georg C. Klaren Georg C. Klaren (1900–1962) was an Austrian screenwriter and film director. He worked on a number of screenplays with Herbert Juttke during the silent era, silent and early sound eras including Alfred Hitchcock's 1931 film ''Mary (1931 film), Ma ...

, freely adapted from the short story "

The Birthday of the Infanta ''A House of Pomegranates'' is a collection of fairy tales, written by Oscar Wilde, that was published in 1891 as a second collection for '' The Happy Prince and Other Tales'' (1888). Wilde once said that this collection was "intended nei ...

" by Oscar Wilde.

Composition history

Zemlinsky's choice of this story was a reflection of the end of his relationship with

Alma Mahler Alma Maria Mahler Gropius Werfel (born Alma Margaretha Maria Schindler; 31 August 1879 – 11 December 1964) was an Austrian composer, author, editor, and socialite. At 15, she was mentored by Max Burckhard. Musically active from her early yea ...

, and the identification he felt with the drama's main character. He completed the short score in December 1919 and the orchestration in January 1921. The score was published by

Universal Edition Universal Edition (UE) is a classical music publishing firm. Founded in 1901 in Vienna, they originally intended to provide the core classical works and educational works to the Austrian market (which had until then been dominated by Leipzig-bas ...

Vienna.

Performance history

The opera's premiere took place on 28 May 1922 at the Stadttheater Glockengasse in Cologne, Germany, under the baton of

Otto Klemperer Otto Nossan Klemperer (14 May 18856 July 1973) was a 20th-century conductor and composer, originally based in Germany, and then the US, Hungary and finally Britain. His early career was in opera houses, but he was later better known as a concer ...

. Further productions followed in Vienna, Karlsruhe and Prague. Its last performance in Zemlinsky's lifetime was in September 1926 at the Städtische Oper in Berlin-Charlottenburg.Clayton, Alfred, "Reports: Hamburg" (December 1981). ''

The Musical Times ''The Musical Times'' is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom and currently the oldest such journal still being published in the country. It was originally created by Joseph Mainzer in 1842 as ''Mainzer ...

'', 122 (1666): pp. 841–842. The work runs for approximately 90 minutes and is usually paired with another work when performed. In 1981, the Hamburg State Opera presented the first double-bill of Zemlinsky's two one-act operas ''Der Zwerg'' and ''

Eine florentinische Tragödie ', Op. 16, is an opera in one act by Alexander von Zemlinsky composed in 1915–16 to a libretto adapted by the composer from a German translation by of Oscar Wilde's unfinished play '' A Florentine Tragedy''. Performance history The opera was ...

''. ''Der Zwerg'', however, was presented in an abridged version with a substantially altered libretto under the title ''The Birthday of the Infanta''. The first modern performances of the opera as Zemlinsky intended were given in Cologne in February 1996 under the direction of

James Conlon James Conlon (born March 18, 1950) is an American conductor. He is currently the music director of Los Angeles Opera, principal conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, and artistic advisor to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Early ...

. In 2004 'Der Zwerg' was one of the 'Eight Little Greats' season given by Opera North throughout the north of England. In 2013, the

Opéra national de Lorraine The Opéra national de Lorraine is a French opera company and opera house, located in the city of Nancy, France in the province of Lorraine, France. Formerly named the ''Opéra de Nancy et de Lorraine'', the company received the status of nat ...

in Nancy, who had previously presented Zemlinsky's ''

Der König Kandaules ''Der König Kandaules'' (''King Kandaules'') is an opera in three acts by the Austrian composer Alexander von Zemlinsky. Its libretto was adapted by the composer from Franz Blei's German translation of the play ''Le roi Candaule'' by French autho ...

'' and ''

'', continued its exploration of his work with ''Der Zwerg'', presented under the French title ''Le nain'' with Erik Fenton as the Dwarf, Helena Juntuen as the Infanta, Eleanore Marguerre as Ghita and Pley Bryjak as Don Estoban. The staging was by Philipp Himmelmann with sets by Raimund Bauer and costumes by Bettina Walter. The success of the performances in Nancy led to another adaptation in France in 2018 at the Opera de Rennes. Numi Opera Theatre's inaugural season presented ''Der Zwerg'' with excerpts from Oscar Wilde's "Birthday of the Infanta" in Los Angeles in 2019. In November 2022, Cologne Opera commemorated the centenary of the work's premiere there with a new production directed by Paul-Georg Dittrich and conducted by

Lawrence Renes Lawrence Renes (born 1970) is a Dutch-Maltese conductor. He studied violin at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and conducting at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, from which he graduated ''cum laude'' in 1993. Renes was the first prize winn ...

.https://www.oper.koeln/de/programm/der-zwerg-petruschka/6204. Retrieved August 2022.

Roles

Instrumentation

flutes The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

(2nd and 3rd doubling piccolo), 3

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

s (3rd doubling English horn), 3 clarinets in B-flat/A (2nd doubling E-flat clarinet, 3rd doubling bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (3rd doubling contrabassoon); *4

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...

, 3

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

s, 3

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

bass tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

; *

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

( cymbals, bass drum,

side drum The snare (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often used in ...

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, any three points, when non- colline ...

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

tam-tam A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in ...

, glockenspiel), harp, celesta,

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

, mandolin; *

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

Offstage music: 3

s; clarinet in C, bassoon, 2

, mandoline, strings

Synopsis

A sultan has sent a dwarf as a present to the ''Infanta'' (Spanish princess) Donna Clara on her birthday. The dwarf is unaware of his physical deformity and becomes infatuated with the Infanta. He sings her a love song and imagines himself her brave knight. She toys with him and gives him a white rose as a present. Left alone, he accidentally uncovers a mirror and sees his own reflection for the first time. In great agitation, he tries to obtain a kiss from the ''Infanta'', but she spurns him and calls him a monster. His heart broken, he dies clutching the white rose as the ''Infanta'' rejoins the party.

Recordings

Soile Isokoski Soile Marja Isokoski (born 14 February 1957) is a Finnish lyric soprano. She is an opera singer as well as a concert and lieder singer. Career Isokoski was born in Posio, Finland. She graduated from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki (a cantor ...

, David Kuebler, Iride Martinez, Andrew Collis, Juanita Lascarro, Machiko Obata,

Anne Schwanewilms Anne Schwanewilms (born 1967, in Gelsenkirchen) is a German lyric soprano. She studied gardening before training in Cologne as a singer with the German bass Hans Sotin. She is particularly associated with performing the works of Richard Wagner, F ...

, Frankfurter Kantorei, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln,

. EMI Classics (live recording), 1996. * Elena Tsallagova,

David Butt Philip David Butt Philip (born 12 March 1980) is a British operatic tenor. Early life and education He was born and brought up in Wells, Somerset, and as a treble was a chorister at Peterborough Cathedral under Christopher Gower (Peterborough at that ...

Emily Magee Emily Magee (born October 31, 1965) is an American operatic soprano. Born in New York City, Magee studied music at Westminster Choir College, from which she graduated in 1987. She continued her studies at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana U ...

, Philipp Jekal,

Deutsche Oper Berlin The Deutsche Oper Berlin is a German opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house (after Munich's) and also home to the Berlin State Ballet. Since 2004, the D ...

conducted by

Donald Runnicles Sir Donald Cameron Runnicles OBE HonFRSE (born 16 November 1954, Edinburgh, Scotland) is a Scottish conductor. Life and career The son of William Runnicles, a director of a furniture supply company and a choirmaster and organist, and Christin ...

Tobias Kratzer Tobias Kratzer (born 17 January 1980) is a German stage director, especially of opera, who has worked internationally after winning a competition in Graz with two entries in 2008. He has staged works by Verdi and Wagner, but also contemporary musi ...

, stage director. Video recording,

Naxos Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best ab ...

Cat: NBD0108V, 2020.

References

Sources * Antony Beaumont: ''Zemlinsky''. Cornell University Press 2000.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zwerg Operas by Alexander Zemlinsky 1922 operas One-act operas German-language operas Operas Operas based on works by Oscar Wilde