Erwin und Elmire is an opera in two acts by Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, with a libretto by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, after Oliver Goldsmith's ballad of Angelica and Edwin, The Hermit, in his sentimental novel The Vicar of Wakefield.
Goethe moved to Weimar, in circumstances decisive for his future career, in November 1775. There he was introduced to Anna Amalia (1739–1807), the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, a formidable political figure who was also a fine composer. Goethe's arrival in Weimar coincided with her partial withdrawal from political life as her son had reached the age of maturity, and Anna seized the opportunity to provide her own setting of Erwin and Elmire for the Court Theatre, where it was first performed on 24 May 1776.
Goethe's libretto
The ballad of Angelica and Edwin was first published privately in 1764, and two years later was incorporated into Chapter 8 of The Vicar of Wakefield. Its success was immediate and widespread. Goethe was not the only literary figure who was to adapt the tale; it appears, for instance, in de Laborde's Lettres sur la Suisse (1783). Victor Pelissier's opera Edwin and Angelina, or The Banditti which premiered in New York in 1796, was based upon an adaptation by Elihu Hubbard Smith.
Goethe made his adaptation of Erwin und Elmire, as the ballad became known in Germany, in 1773, attracted, no doubt, to the parallels between the tale and his faltering relationship with Lili Schönemann, to whom the text is dedicated. It was published in 1775 as a Schauspiel mit Gesang, the first time this designation appeared in Germany.
The great success of Goethe's reworking of this sentimental tale no doubt derives in large measure from the fact that it touched upon many social and cultural preoccupations of the day. Its theme of reconciliation, achieved in rustic surroundings, was a pointed critique on the social pretensions of emerging middle-class society. The literary-poetic figures of the 'hermit' and the 'hut' were in fact to become recurring themes in Goethe's writings, also helping to frame his lifelong exploration of the difficulty of reconciling steadfast virtues with restless desires.
Anna Amalia's score
The score is testament to the high level of musical attainment of the composer. Anna Amalia draws upon models from both opera seria, opera buffa, and folk song to create a successful dramatic whole, one in which all four protagonists are characterised as much by the nuances provided by the musical accompaniment as by the content and register of the words they speak. The predominantly buffa style, for instance, is ideal for a character like Bernardo who shares its potent mix of humour and humanity. On the other hand the lovers' passion is aptly reflected in the application of the concerted style common to opera seria. Elmire's remorse gives rise to a strophic song ("Ein Veilchen") that, through its unassuming lyricism, leaves us in no doubt as to her sincerity. And Erwin's opening aria ("Ihr verblühet, süsse Rosen") amounts to a musical ennoblement—which, given he is in fact of lowly birth, suggests that neither Amalia nor Goethe sought to restrict a noble temperament merely to those of noble birth.
The dramatic effectiveness of these stylistic adaptations marks Anna Amalia's Erwin und Elmire as a major early achievement in the development of German opera.
Recent performance history
Anna Amalia's setting had no modern revival until a staged performance by students of the University of Cambridge, UK, in 1999. A further performance was given 29 February 2008 in Central Hall, Melbourne, Australia by IOpera. This was the first performance based on the fully restored score by Furore Verlag. It received its first fully complete realisation at the Ekhof Festival in Gotha in the summer of 2009.
Roles
Synopsis
Olympia, mother of Elmire, laments the restrictive social graces of the young and reminisces on the carefree days of her own youth. Elmire, her daughter, appears and seems inconsolable, she tries in vain to cheer her up. After Olympia departs, we discover that Elmire is distressed because she believes her cold behaviour towards Erwin, her lowly born suitor, has caused him to disappear. Bernardo, Elmire's French instructor and mentor, overhears her self-reproaches and is able to persuade her to meet an old hermit in a secluded valley. There, he promises, she will find joy in her heart once more.