Die Feen
| Die Feen | |
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| Opera by Richard Wagner | |
Opening page of Die Feen
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| Translation | The Fairies |
| Librettist | Richard Wagner (1833) |
| Language | German |
| Based on | Carlo Gozzi's La donna serpente |
| Premiere | 29 June 1888 Königliches Hof- und National-Theater in Munich |
Die Feen (German: [diː feːn], The Fairies) is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. The German libretto was written by the composer after Carlo Gozzi's La donna serpente. Die Feen was Wagner's first completed opera, but remained unperformed in his lifetime. It has never established itself firmly in the operatic repertory although it receives occasional performances, on stage or in concert, most often in Germany. The opera is available on CD and in a DVD. The overture has been separately recorded.
Although the music of Die Feen shows the influences of Carl Maria von Weber and other composers of the time, commentators have recognised embryonic features of the mature Wagnerian opera. The fantasy plot also anticipates themes such as redemption that were to reappear in his later works.
Die Feen was Wagner's first completed opera, composed in 1833, when he was 20 years old and working as a part-time chorus master in Würzburg. He gave it the description of Grosse romantische Oper (grand romantic opera).
The year before he started composition, Wagner had abandoned his first attempt at writing an opera, Die Hochzeit (The Wedding). There were a number of difficulties facing new German-language opera in the 1830s. First there was deemed to be a lack of good quality libretti to set. This may have influenced Wagner's decision to write the libretto for Die Feen himself. Second, there was a fear among the authorities in Germany and Austria that the performance of operas in German would attract nationalist and revolutionary followers. This would have added to the difficulties faced by a novice composer seeking an opportunity for his new opera to be performed.
Although Gozzi's La donna serpente was the source for Wagner's plot, he took the names of Die Feen's two principal characters, Ada and Arindal, from Die Hochzeit. The libretto also introduced a fantastic theme that was not in the original play. The libretto displays themes and patterns that were to recur in Wagner's more mature works. These include redemption, a mysterious stranger demanding that their lover not ask their name, and long expository narratives.
Wagner revised the score of Die Feen in 1834, when he hoped for a production. Among the changes in the 1834 version was the rewriting from scratch of Ada's grand scene Weh' mir, so nah' die fürchterliche Stunde. However, it remained unperformed during his lifetime.
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