The Portrayal of Princess Libuše in Nineteenth-Century German and Czech Opera Librettos

0554498 - ÚČL 2022 RIV CZ eng J - Journal Article
Fránek, Michal - Futtera, Ladislav
The Portrayal of Princess Libuše in Nineteenth-Century German and Czech Opera Librettos.
Hudební věda. Roč. 58, č. 4 (2021), s. 471-510. ISSN 0018-7003
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA20-14534S
Institutional support: RVO:68378068
Keywords : opera librettos * Heinrich Eduard Josef von Lannoy * Libussa, Böhmens erste Königin * Joseph Karl Bernard * Johann Ludwig Chulant * Herzogin von Böhmen * Libussa * Josef Krasoslav Chmelensky * Libušin sňatek * Josef Wenzig * Ema Destinnova * Kněžna Libuše * Nastolení Libušino
OECD category: Specific literatures
Method of publishing: Open access
http://hudebniveda.cz/2021/04/article-2cs.pdf

Princess Libuše as a character in Central European operas from the 17th – 20th centuries represents a remarkable phenomenon which is yet to be comprehensively charted. The focus of the present study is on three German librettos dating from the 1810s and 20s (Heinrich Eduard Josef von Lannoy: Libussa, Böhmens erste Königin, 1819, Joseph Karl Bernard: Libussa, 1823, Johann Ludwig Choulant: Libussa, Herzogin von Böhmen, 1823), and three, or more precisely, four Czech librettos (Josef Krasoslav Chmelenský: Libušin sňatek, 1832, Josef Wenzig: Libuše, 1866/1881, Ema Destinnová: Kněžna Libuše, 1913, Nastolení Libušino, 1923). Using a comparative perspective, the text concentrates on motivic analysis of the librettos which it sets into the German and Czech literary contexts. At the same time, the study explores the differences of approach to the character of Princess Libuše between the German and Czech milieus. Whereas in the cases of the German-language librettos the main concern was with providing a thrilling and romantic plot, the Czech librettos tended towards the genre of coronation opera whose political message would address both the rulers, and even more relevantly the people and nation, as a vehicle of knowledge about themselves, their past history, present condition, and future. In this respect, Bernard’s libretto is already markedly distinct from Chmelenský’s text, after which the Czech tendency towards the ceremonial culminates in Wenzig’s libretto as the realization of a “glorious tableau”, to ebb in Ema Destinnová’s work at a time by when it was already regarded by the majority of critics (if not its audiences) as anachronistic. The Czech version of the study is available on the website of the journal Musical Science.

Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0329212