Die Bürgschaft (opera)
| Die Bürgschaft | |
|---|---|
| Opera by Kurt Weill | |
The composer in 1932
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| Translation | The Pledge |
| Librettist | Caspar Neher |
| Language | German |
| Based on |
Der afrikanische Rechtspruch by Johann Gottfried Herder |
| Premiere | 10 March 1932 Städtische Oper, Berlin |
Die Bürgschaft (The Pledge) is an opera in three acts by Kurt Weill. Caspar Neher wrote the German libretto after the parable Der afrikanische Rechtspruch (The African Verdict) by Johann Gottfried Herder. Composed from August to October 1931, it was premiered on 10 March 1932 at the Städtische Oper in Berlin, Germany.
The opera dates from the years immediately prior to Weill's emigration to the United States. Representing "the summation of Weill's career as an opera composer in Europe," it provides insight into the compositional path that Weill might have followed had he stayed in Europe.Die Bürgschaft is an opera of broad ambition and scope, far more somber in tone than Weill's prior works for the stage. The work is in part the result of Weill's growing distance from Brecht during work on Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, leading the composer to turn to stage designer Caspar Neher, his longtime collaborator as a stage director, for the libretto.Die Bürgschaft is, further, a product of its political climate, dubbed by Weill an opera that "attempts to adopt a position on matters that concern us all," and one of multiple Weill stage works of this period "addressing the problem of moral responsibility within a crumbling culture given over to greed, power, and inhumanity." As Weill wrote in reaction to a review of the opera's premiere, "the job of opera today consists in reaching out beyond the fate of private individuals towards universality." In addition to its sobriety and political undertones, Die Bürgschaft is a musical turning point for Weill. Weill characterized it as "a return to real music-making." Multiple scholars have noted its departure from the "number opera" formula of works such as The Threepenny Opera and Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny in exchange for a more continuous sound, as well as a minimizing of satire and irony. Certain of these scholars have also noted influences ranging from Handel and Verdi in its oratorio-like features to a detached and unemotional character indebted to Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex.
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