''Männerlist größer als Frauenlist oder Die glückliche Bärenfamilie'' (''Men Are More Cunning Than Women, or The Happy Bear Family''; WWV 48) is an unfinished Singspiel by

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

, written between 1837 and 1838. ''Männerlist'' was Wagner's last operatic project before he embarked on ''

Rienzi ' (''Rienzi, the last of the tribunes''; WWV 49) is an early opera by Richard Wagner in five acts, with the libretto written by the composer after Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel of the same name (1835). The title is commonly shortened to ''Rienzi ...

''. Although the book of the opera (which Wagner as usual wrote himself) has long been available, the full text (including dialogue) and three completed musical numbers (in

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

score), were discovered in a private collection in 1994 and later acquired by the archives of the Richard-Wagner-Stiftung in

Bayreuth Bayreuth (, ; bar, Bareid) is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtelgebirge Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the 21st century, it is the capital of U ...

. Wagner refers to this project in his "Red Pocketbook" and his autobiographical works ''

A Communication to My Friends "Eine Mitteilung an meine Freunde", usually referred to in English by its translated title (from German language, German) of "A Communication to My Friends", is an extensive autobiography, autobiographical work by Richard Wagner, published in 1851, ...

'' (1851) and ''

My Life My Life may refer to: Autobiographies * ''Mein Leben'' (Wagner) (''My Life''), by Richard Wagner, 1870 * ''My Life'' (Clinton autobiography), by Bill Clinton, 2004 * ''My Life'' (Meir autobiography), by Golda Meir, 1973 * ''My Life'' (Mosley a ...

'' (1870–1880). In the latter he describes the work as "in a light neo-French style," which he began to write in

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...

, but that later when he took it up in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

for completion, "I was overtaken by utter disgust at this kind of writing." From the complete text and the surviving music, it is clear that the piece was conceived as a Singspiel. The story is drawn from the ''

Arabian Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...

'', but relocated in 19th-century

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The jeweller Julius Wander, pretending to be an aristocrat, is tricked into promising to marry the ugly Aurora, daughter of the class-conscious Baron von Abendthau, by her cousin Leontine. He escapes when he recognises a passing bear-keeper, Gregor, as his father – and indeed that Gregor's dancing "bear" is in fact his own brother Richard in a bear-skin. Announcing his parentage, Wander is renounced by the snobbish Abendthau, and is free to marry Leontine. Two numbers from ''Männerlist'' realised by

James Francis Brown James Francis Brown (born 7 December 1969) is an English composer. He studied composition with the Viennese émigré Hans Heimler (a pupil of Alban Berg) and then at the Royal Academy of Music, London. Career Francis Brown's significant ch ...

were given their UK premieres on 13 October 2007 at the

Linbury Studio Theatre The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

.The full score and vocal score were published by Music Haven in 2012. Two different productions of this work as a completed fragment were staged by the Hauptstadtoper Berlin and the Pocket Opera Company Nuremberg in 2013.

References

;Notes ;Sources *Millington, Barry, "Happy Families: A Wagner Singspiel Rediscovered", in ''The Wagner Journal'', vol. 1 No. 3, London, 2007. *Wagner, Richard (Trans. Andrew Gray), ''My Life'', New York, 1992 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mannerlist Grusser Als Frauenlist 1838 operas German-language operas Operas Operas by Richard Wagner Libretti by Richard Wagner Singspiele Unfinished operas Music based on One Thousand and One Nights