Der Evangelimann

Der Evangelimann (The Evangelist) is an opera in two acts by the Austrian composer Wilhelm Kienzl. The libretto, by the composer, is based on Leopold Florian Meissner's short story Aus den Berichten eines Polizeikommissärs. It was adapted in 1924 as a silent film The Evangelist.

Kienzl composed the opera in a relatively short space of time during 1894 in Graz and in the little Austrian town of Vöcklabruck. When he played extracts from the score to conductor Karl Muck and Count Hochberg (then artistic director of the Berlin Opera), they immediately secured the rights to the premiere. The score was published by Musikverlages Bote & Bock Berlin GmbH, now part of Boosey & Hawkes.

The opera was first performed at the Neues Königliches Opernhaus, Berlin on 4 May 1895. It was a triumphant success. Within only a few years most German and Austrian opera houses had the work in their repertory. Famous conductors such as Felix Mottl, Gustav Mahler, Franz Schalk and Richard Strauss gave it their support, and the title role of the Evangelist Mathias was sung by prominent tenors. On 17 January 1927, Kienzl celebrated his 70th birthday by conducting the work at the Vienna State Opera, with Lotte Lehmann, and Richard Tauber in the leading roles. The cast also included Hermann Wiedemann, Bella Paalen and Franz Markhoff. [See Neue Freie Presse, Vienna, 17 January 1927, page 10.]

Mathias, clerk in the monastery of St. Othmar, is in love with Martha, the foster daughter of the magistrate Friedrich Engel. Mathias’s brother Johannes is jealous of Martha’s affection and starts an intrigue against him. When the magistrate is informed of what is happening between his charge and Mathias, he dismisses the clerk and expels him from the monastery. Martha resists Johannes’s intrusiveness. When Johannes witnesses Martha and Mathias swearing fidelity to each other at their farewell, his jealousy turns into blind hate and he sets the monastery on fire. It is not he, however, but Mathias, who is arrested as the alleged wrongdoer.

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