''Wieland der Schmied'' (, "Wieland the Smith") is a draft by
Richard Wagner for an opera
libretto based on the
Germanic legend of
Wayland Smith. It is listed in the
Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis The ''Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis'' (''Catalogue of Wagner's Works''), abbreviated WWV, is an index and musicological guide to the 113 musical compositions and works for the stage by Richard Wagner. It includes guidance on editions of the published wor ...
as WWV82.
Background
Wagner was motivated by his enthusiasm for the ''
Romeo and Juliet'' symphony of
Hector Berlioz to create a libretto which might serve for a production at the
Paris Opéra
The Paris Opera (, ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be k ...
, with music perhaps to be written by Berlioz or by himself. The draft, which is mostly in prose, was written between December 1849 and March 1850. It was published as an appendix to Wagner's essay ''
The Art-Work of the Future
"The Artwork of the Future" (german: Das Kunstwerk der Zukunft) is a long essay written by Richard Wagner, first published in 1849 in Leipzig, in which he sets out some of his ideals on the topics of art in general and music drama in particular.
...
'' as an example of the ideals to which such art-works should aspire - "a glorious Saga which long ago the raw, uncultured Folk of old-time Germany indited for no other reason than that of inner, free, Necessity".
The libretto contains many elements which are found in other of Wagner's operas (a swan, a wound, a spear, a ring, smithying, an absent mysterious father, a forbidden question), and one biographer calls it 'one of Wagner's most frankly autobiographic libretti'. Nevertheless, Wagner decided to abandon it, presumably because he realised its subject matter was not to French taste. He offered the libretto to
Franz Liszt who also declined it.
The libretto was eventually adapted by O. Schlemm for the composer
Ján Levoslav Bella who composed an opera on it between 1880 and 1890. (See ''
Wieland der Schmied (opera)''.) This was eventually produced in
Bratislava,
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
in 1926. Revivals were produced in
Slovak, under the title ''Kováč Wieland''.
[Elschek (2003), p. 265]
The composer
Siegmund von Hausegger wrote the symphonic elaboration of the unperformed opera libretto in 1904, which he refers to as the "allegory of the attainment of creative powers".
Story
Swanhilde is the daughter of a marriage between a mortal woman and a fairy king, who forbids his wife to ask about his origins; on her asking him he vanishes. Swanhilde and her sisters are however able to fly as swans. But wounded by a spear, Swanhilde falls to earth and is rescued by the master-craftsman Wieland, and marries him, putting aside her wings and her magic ring of power. Wieland's enemies, the Neidings, under Princess Bathilde, steal the ring, kidnap Swanhilde and destroy Wieland's home. When Wieland searches for Swanhilde, they entrap and cripple him. However he fashions wings for himself and escapes with Swanhilde as the house of the Neidings is destroyed.
Notes
Bibliography
*Oskár Elschek (ed.), ''A History of Slovak Music'', Bratislava 2003.
*Robert W. Guttman, ''Richard Wagner:The Man, his Mind and his Music'', London, 1990
*Barry Millington (ed.), ''The Wagner Compendium'', London 1992
*Richard Wagner, tr. W. Ashton Ellis ''The Art-Work of the Future and other Works'', Lincoln and London 1993.
*John Warrack, ''The Musical Background'', in Peter Burbidge and Richard Sutton (eds.), ''The Wagner Companion'', London 1979.
{{Richard Wagner
Operas
Libretti by Richard Wagner