From: Cervantes: Bulletin of the Cervantes Society of America
12.1 (1992): 45-57.
Copyright © 1992, The Cervantes Society of America
Some forgotten Don Quijote(s)
|
BARBARA P.
ESQUIVAL-HEINEMANN |
ETWEEN
1690 and 1800 about twenty-one operas based on Don
Quixote1 were written in German-speaking
countries alone. Hardly any of these operas are performed nowadays, yet in
many music archives one can still peruse the libretti and most of them make
good reading. This previously uncollected and unexamined body of work supplies
us with a great deal of information about the “re-presentation”
of the character Don Quijote and the novel itself in Germany and Austria
from the late Baroque to the beginning of Romanticism.
Not all libretti focus solely on Don Quijote.
There are several which have as their basis interpolated stories and episodes
from the novel, i.e. “El curioso impertinente” or “La aventura
de la Sierra Morena,” and there are some which modeled their plot on
other characters of the novel, i.e. Sancho Panza or Camacho.
These forgotten dramatizations of Don
Quixote shed interesting light on the perception and interpretation of
Cervantes' work and how it was viewed in the epoch in question.
The aim of this paper is to examine and compare
three opera libretti derived from different parts of the Quixote and
to determine what role they played in the reception of Cervantes' text.
1 To
facilitate recognition I have used the spelling Don Quijote for the person
and Don Quixote for the work.
45
|
| 46 |
BARBARA P.
ESQUIVAL-HEINEMANN |
Cervantes |
|
The libretti will be discussed as literary forms with deviations and changes
from the original to be noted and categorized as to their purpose and function.
Wherever possible the evolution of a libretto will be traced in order to
determine whether the text was based directly on Cervantes' novel or was
derived from other sources. Also the relationship between music and libretto
will be examined if it is relevant as interpretation of the novel proper.
The libretti in question are: first, Der
irrende Ritter Don Quixotte de la Mancia, premiered in Hamburg in 1690,
text by Hinrich Hinsch and music by Phillip Förtsch; second, the anonymous
bilingual libretto, in Italian and German, Amor medico, o sia il
Don Chisciotte [Die Liebe ein Arzt, oder Don Quixote], published in 1739
in Vienna; and third, a composition by Georg Phillip Telemann Basilio
and Quiteria with libretto by Daniel Schiebeler, dating from 1767.
The first recorded reference to Don
Quixote in Germany came in 1613 in Heidelberg at a royal wedding between
the “Winter King,” the Elector Friedrich V of the Palatinate, and
the English princess Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James I of England. It
seems that in this case England had been the immediate transmitter since
Shelton's translation already had appeared in 1612. Nevertheless, it was
not until 1648 that the first German translation appeared, even though it
had been promised since 1621.2 We find here
only twenty-three chapters translated, by the pseudonymous Aeschacius Major;
but the work is by far the best German version even by today's standard of
translation.3 The author even comments on
the English and French translations, pointing out some difficulties in rendering
the correct meaning from the Spanish into other main European
languages.4
From the publication of Don Quixote
in 1605 and 1615 to the first German translation in 1648, the Germans read
the novel either in French or in the original. The French translation of
Rosset (1618) was especially popular. If we consider that the
2 The
reason for this delay had undoubtedly to do with the Thirty Years War and
still is the cause of errors in bibliographical citation even in the last
two decades. See Harriet C. Frazier A Babble of Ancestral Voices (The
Hague: Mouton, 1974) p. 109.
3 His real name
was Joachim Caesar.
4 Christian F.
Melz in his An evaluation of the earliest German translation of «Don
Quixote» «Juncker Harnisch aus Fleckenland» has done an
excellent analysis of both texts.
|
| 12.1 (1992) |
Some forgotten Don Quijote(s) |
47 |
|
German translation contained only twenty-three chapters, we understand why
the French version remained very much in use for a long time.
Many scholars see a sudden romanticizing of
Don Quijote in Germany during the height of Romanticism. Yet the extant libretti
show a different interpretation. With the first German opera, Der irrende
Ritter Don Quixotte de la Mancia, written in 1690 during the height of
the Baroque, we can perceive already a strong romantic tendency which continues
throughout the eighteenth-century and is apparent long before the rise of
Romanticism.
To understand this romanticizing trend we should
examine how a romantic perception of Don Quixote was expressed in
Germany. According to Anthony Close, “The German Romantics expressed
their interpretation, not in formal works of literary history, but in paragraphs
of treatises on general aesthetics, in occasional pieces for literary reviews,
in conversations retrospectively
recorded”.5 Close states that for the
Romantics, poetic qualities were predominant over comedy in Don Quixote,
or, to be more precise, these two things fused together, with comedy being
assimilated by poetry (Close, p. 32). He goes on to explain that Cervantes
was regarded as a philosopher poet who portrayed the universal struggle of
the Ideal and the Real through the symbolism of his hero's adventures (Close,
p. 35). By giving higher status to the humor and irony in Don Quixote,
the German Romantics lifted it out of the genre of farce. For them, humor
and irony were not slap stick entertainment but a grander way to see certain
forms of comedy. It is in this interpretation that Germany differs greatly
from that of France and England. Through the use of humor and irony, the
novelist, Cervantes, distances himself from the subject matter, making it
more ‘objective’ and ‘universal’ (Close, p. 38-39). The
ennoblement of Don Quixote presupposes the ennoblement of the protagonist.
It was
5 Anthony
Close, The Romantic Approach to ‘Don Quixote’ (Cambridge:
University Press, 1977) p. 30. Also Inés Azar, “Meaning, Intention
and Written Text: Anthony Close's Approach to ‘Don Quixote’ and
its Critics.” MLN, 96 (1981), 440-44, and Daniel Eisenberg,
Study of “Don Quixote,” appendix: “The influence
of ‘Don Quixote’ on the Romantic Movement.” Of great interest
is also Jean-Jacques Achille Bertrand's book Cervantes et le romanticisme
allemand, (Paris: F. Alcan, 1914).
|
| 48 |
BARBARA P.
ESQUIVAL-HEINEMANN |
Cervantes |
|
precisely the ennoblement of the figure of Don Quijote which was present
in Germany long before the beginning of Romanticism, as will be shown through
discussion of the above-mentioned libretti.
In the second half of the seventeenth century,
the history of the reception of Don Quixote begins to concentrate
itself onto the German stage. Hamburg, at that time the center of German
opera and operatic art, witnessed in 1690 the performance of the first German
opera based on Cervantes' work. Many composers and librettists of the Hamburg
opera were admirers and connoisseurs of Spanish literature and did much to
introduce it and to spread its fame. Several ‘autos ’ and plays
of Calderón and Lope had already been adapted for the operatic
stage.6
Johann Philipp Förtsch, composer, and
Hinrich Hinsch, librettist, met in Hamburg around 1680. They collaborated
on several operas, one of them Der irrende Ritter D. Quixotte de la
Mancia, the first German opera on the subject. Both Hinsch and Förtsch
were familiar with the novel in the original, since they read Spanish. As
we will see, this is an important factor in the justification of additions
and alterations of the original.
Already in the title, Hinsch makes a clever
allusion to the complex character of the protagonist. At first, it seems
to be just a play on words on the part of the librettist, but the reader
will soon understand that there is a very subtle psychological analysis involved.
The German title Der irrende Ritter D. Quixotte de la Mancia is by
no means a translation of the Spanish El ingenioso Caballero Don Quixote
de la Mancha. Hinsch deliberately changes the adjective describing
“Ritter”, from a positive attribute in Spanish “ingenioso,”
to a negative one in German “irrende”. Furthermore, Spanish
“ingenioso” has only one meaning, namely “ingenious,”
whereas the German word could be interpreted in three ways: erroneous, wandering,
lost. It is true that these three interpretations are related in meaning.
Yet in choosing the adjective “irrend,” the librettist already
introduces his concept of duality in the personality of Don Quijote, seeing
him as someone not only perhaps mistaken in what he is doing but also as
a someone who has lost his sense of direction, at least for the duration
of the opera.
6
Calderón's ‘auto’ La cena de Baltasar and Lope's
play El mayor imposible had already been performed as operas before
they ever appeared on the spoken German stage.
|
| 12.1 (1992) |
Some forgotten Don Quijote(s) |
49 |
|
In an attempt to justify the deviation of his
libretto from the original novel, Hinsch, in his preamble, draws attention
to the changes he made. The core of the libretto comes from the second part
of the novel, Chapters 30-57, and takes place at the duke's court. Hinsch
acknowledges the addition of a character with the name of Rodrigo, who does
not figure in the original but is needed for theatrical effect, “wie
es uns vor das Theatrum am besten zu seyn gedeucht / haben uns auch der /
den Schau = Spiel Schreibern erlaubten Freiheit gebraucht / und den Rodrigo
. . . mit
eingeführet.”7 He further defends
his deviation from the original by reminding the reader that other playwrights
before him have done the same, naming, as an example, the Berger
extravagant, a satire on the pastoral genre, by Charles Sorel, which
Hinsch erroneously attributes to Thomas Corneille. The German Andreas Gryphius
wrote an adaptation in which several characters not found in the original
were added. Hinsch continues to address the reader in the preamble, preparing
him for what he is about to learn from the libretto. He explains that the
main reason for writing the libretto was to show that for human beings “to
contract folly or madness is just as inevitable as contracting chicken
pox.” We all come down with it once, in which case reason will struggle
with folly to overcome it and cure us. To emphasize his point, he admits
to have chosen the “life of the Spanish knight Don Quijote” because
in this book, “scheinen Thorheit und Witz darinnen mit einander zu
streiten.”8
Hinsch begins the actual libretto with a prologue
in which we meet a number of allegorical figures. This prologue is actually
a visual synthesis of the preamble, now addressing the audience and pointing
out what to expect. We can summarize the plot in the following way:
Folly, personified, is seated on a throne receiving the homage of five jesters,
who together with Folly govern different emotions
7 Translation:
“Since it is best for the theatre, we have taken the poetic license
to add a character with the name of Rodrigo.”
Hinrich Hinsch, Der irrende Ritter D. Quixotte
de la Mancia (Hamburg: Ed. Hamburg Opera) p. 1. (This is all the information
given on the microfilm made for me by the music department of the University
of Hamburg. As far as I know the University has the only copy of the libretto.
There is no indication on the libretto when it was published or if it is
a copy of the original.)
8 Translation:
“In that book, folly and reason seem to struggle with each
other.”
|
| 50 |
BARBARA P.
ESQUIVAL-HEINEMANN |
Cervantes |
|
of human nature. There is the Garment-jester, the Carousal-jester, the
Venus-jester, the Dissemble-jester and the Novel-jester. Folly issues a challenge
for relinquishing crown and throne to the jester who is able to provide the
greatest entertainment for the court by showing what kind of results their
influence on human emotion have. Each one of them, reciting a few lines in
a couplet style, gives his reason for deserving the crown. The winner, not
surprisingly, is the Novel-jester. He asserts that his influence has caused
people to lose their reason and behave abnormally: “Wen mein
überzuckert Gifft / Das aus diesen Blättern quillet / und stets
reizet / nimmer stillet / einmal ein Gemüthe trifft: kan es aus der
Thorheit Ketten / selbst die Stärke nicht
erretten.”9
Folly, as well as all other jesters, agrees
that the Novel-jester merits the crown, since through his interference, Don
Quijote has contracted madness and will be a source of delight and entertainment
for them: “Dieweil durch dich / Ein Ritter uns ergetzt / der seinen
Witz verliert . . . / Weil durch dich Don Quixott uns heute Freud
gebiert.”l0
By pointing out the ability to amuse while
in a state of madness, Hinsch gives us a detailed reading of Don Quijote's
role in this opera. It is the role of the buffoon, who in his madness is
allowed to tell the truth without being reproached for it. At the opening
of the first Act, Don Quijote, having been taken to the court of the duke
Don Pedro, sometimes seems to fulfill this role.
The opera now follows closely the episodes
in the novel at court where soon after his arrival Don Quijote becomes the
object of conversation and entertainment. The librettist is careful to underscore
the knight's vacillation between reason and folly, which is intriguing to
everyone at court. Hinsch takes great pains to point out this apparent duality,
being careful, however, to portray Don Quijote as a tragic, not a comic,
figure. Hinsch's interpretation of Don Quijote as a tragic figure able to
arouse pity already comes close to the Romantic interpretation. Though
9 Translation:
“If my sweetened poison which oozes from these pages, and always stimulates
and never relents, at one point makes contact with a vulnerable mind, then
even strength cannot save it from the shackles of folly” (Hinsch l.
66-73).
10 Translation:
“Because of you a knight entertains us, since he lost his wit (reasoning),
because of you a knight gives us pleasure” (Hinsch l. 80-84).
|
| 12.1 (1992) |
Some forgotten Don Quijote(s) |
51 |
|
the concept of madness as familiar part of Romanticism had not yet entered
the literary scene, Hinsch already makes full use of it.
After having fought cats with bells attached
to their feet, Don Quijote also battles with a great magician who has put
twelve maidens under a spell, causing them to grow beards. He fights a final
duel with Sansón Carrasco, alias the “Knight of the Moon”.
Losing it forces Don Quijote to agree to the stipulation set before the fight;
he has to refrain from all knightly activities.
According to Lienhard Bergel, “in the
18th century Don Quixote reached the height of popularity in Germany.
Never afterwards, not even in Romanticism, was its influence stronger. Many
aspects and phases of German life between 1730 and 1800, so far as it is
reflected in literature, are directly related to Don
Quixote”.11 Germany's critical opinion
on Don Quixote is practically unanimous in considering it essentially
a satire, but the perception of the protagonist is quite different. For most
people in eighteenth-century Germany, Don Quijote represents the plight but
also the liberty of the oppressed in spirit, even though the final victory
is dubious. With this idea, Don Quixote the book and Don Quijote the
protagonist become an instrument in the hands of enlightened writers and
critics of society. This can be deduced mainly from various libretti of this
epoch, where the ideas of Enlightenment have also crept into verses which
were set to music. A good example is an anonymous libretto of 1739, Amor
medico, o sia il Don Chisciotte (Die Liebe ein Arzt, oder Don Quixote),
published by Johann Peter von Ghelen, (the imperial court printer,) in Vienna.
It is a bilingual libretto, Italian-German, a highly unusual practice at
the court of Vienna during this time. Neither librettist nor composer is
mentioned and we do not know if this three-act opera was ever performed.
(There is no genre designation, I would “classify” it as an early
example of the Singspiel.)12 It has the seal
of the censor, meaning it had been approved for either staging or publication,
which does not mean that it actually had been or was ever staged. Although
we have the published libretto, I am inclined to guess that only a
11
Cervantes Across the Centuries, (New York: The Dryden Press, 1947)
p. 309.
12 The Singspiel,
an early typical German form of the comic or opera buffa, appeared in the
middle of the 18th century. Its chief characteristic is the use of dialogue
instead of recitative. The music consisted of songs in very simple style.
The ideal was to choose plain and catchy melodies which could be sung, by
everyone, even a cappela.
|
| 52 |
BARBARA P.
ESQUIVAL-HEINEMANN |
Cervantes |
|
limited number of copies were printed. There is no reference in any collection
or list of libretti to this particular work and the score also has not been
found.13 On the surface this libretto is,
like many others, a charming piece of entertainment. Nevertheless, on further
examination we encounter some very subtle criticism of society, religion,
education and government. It may be summarized as follows:
The main plot (the librettist calls it a fable, from Latin fabula =
plot) talks about two sisters, Lucrine and Albarosa, who live alone in a
castle in the Sierra Morena. Both sisters had studied science and Albarosa
had an inclination towards the psychic forces (spiritual oracle). In the
castle garden, Lucrine falls in love with a statue of Adonis, depicted in
the arms of Venus by the famous sculptor Fidenio. She loses her reason. Albarosa
enlists the help of Amaranto, son of Fidenio, to recover her sister's mental
faculties. If Amaranto is successful, Albarosa agrees to marry him, even
though she is in love with Ildoro. She is convinced, however, that Amaranto
will never be able to succeed. Unbeknown to everyone involved, Fidenio has
used his son as the model of Adonis. When Lucrine meets with Amaranto in
the garden in front of the statue, she falls in love with the live image
and is cured. Now Amaranto comes to claim his reward and learns of Albarosa's
love for Ildoro, generously renounces his claim, and turns to Lucrine who
takes him as her husband.
Parallel to this runs the plot of Don Quijote,
who orders Sancho to deliver a letter to Dulcinea, while he stays behind
in the Sierra Morena giving vent to mad bouts. On his way to Toboso, Sancho
meets Lopez, a relative of Don Quijote, who instructs him how to help his
master home to recover. To show his appreciation he gives him a coin which
Sancho loses without knowing it. He comes to the inn and is given an opulent
meal by Grullo the innkeeper. When he cannot pay, Grullo orders his helpers
to come with the blanket. Sancho
13 I
stumbled upon this libretto by accident while I was doing research in the
Albertina Court Library in Vienna in July 1987. During discussions with the
curator (an avid Hispanist interested mainly in the 18th century political
development of Spain) I voiced my opinion about this curious libretto, asking
him if he also saw in it an allegory on the passing of the Spanish crown
from the Hapsburgs to the Bourbons and the subsequent Spanish War of Succession.
He agreed that there was some justification for interpreting it as such,
but cautioned me not to read it as an open declaration against the house
of Bourbon but rather as a satire on the last Hapsburg in Spain. I will not
discuss the libretto in this light, since I have not enough evidence, but
I thought it important to mention the matter here.
|
| 12.1 (1992) |
Some forgotten Don Quijote(s) |
53 |
|
meets with Don Quijote and tells him a fantastic story of how he was able
to get to Toboso and back so fast, and how Don Quijote has to meet with
Pandafilando in order to help the enchanted Dulcinea. On the way to the inn
they meet Rigo, the barber, and Don Quijote takes away the basin, perceiving
it as the helmet of Mambrino. In the inn Lopez, alias Pandafilando, battles
Don Quijote, who has agreed to go home in a bird cage should he lose. He
will stay home for a year without seeking any knightly adventures.
These two plots, Amor medico and Don
Chisciotte, run parallel (or should we say one is interpolated within
the other) except for two moments when they touch and interact: at one point
Don Quijote meets Lucrine, who takes him for Vulcan. They have an argument
about Dulcinea, and Lucrine tells him she has seen her in the arms of another
man. As proof she brings him to the statue of Adonis and Venus. In the meantime,
Amaranto has put a satyr mask on Adonis' face. When Don Quijote sees this,
he believes Adonis to be the devil and starts to fight him. Amaranto, who
has been hiding, intervenes, since he does not want the statue destroyed.
By now the mask has slipped from the face of the statue and Don Quijote,
noticing the resemblance of Adonis and Amaranto thinks he has encountered
another devil. During the scuffle with the statue, Don Quijote breaks off
the arrow which was in Adonis' hand. Amaranto now reads the inscription his
father, Fidenio, has put there, asserting that his son was model for Adonis.
Don Quijote refrains from continuing the fight with Amaranto, since he feels
sorry for the devil who has such a big family.
The second moment the two stories touch is
in the inn when Grullo calls the two sisters, now each with her respective
fiancé, to come and see the fight between “Pandafilando”
and Don Quijote. They come, commenting on the way about the windmill attack
and the fight with the marionettes.
The Quijote plot comes very close to the Italian
opera of Conti Don Chisciotte in Sierra Morena of 1719. Several names
from Conti's text are reintroduced here; Rigo, the barber; Lope(z), a relative
of Don Quijote; and also “Pandafilando”. The course of the plot
is also very similar, as is the outcome of the final confrontation and its
consequences.
It is in the main plot, however, that we find
suggestions of the philosophy of Enlightenment. Two sisters live alone, both
having studied science and both very openly expressing their
|
| 54 |
BARBARA P.
ESQUIVAL-HEINEMANN |
Cervantes |
|
preferences as to the choice of the men they want to marry. There is no authority
figure in their lives to provide advice about what is expected of them as
women. Furthermore they are controlling not only the situation but also the
men. Also Albarosa's questioning of the divine power by consulting a spiritual
oracle14 is a definite sign of mistrusting
established religious dogmas.15
The existence of a bilingual edition is also
a very interesting deviation from the norm. It is true that the Viennese
court at that time had a succession of Italian musicians, and the technical
language for music was and still is Italian. Elsewhere in German-speaking
countries it had long been a custom also to use German for music nomenclature;
Telemann, for example, was an avid defender of this practice. For more than
half a century, Germans had used their language for opera libretti; but the
Viennese court was very slow in adopting German as an operatic language.
Even in 1782, when Mozart introduced his Abduction from the Seraglio,
the work was frowned upon, for being written in German. The appearance of
a bilingual libretto therefore, shows a liberal attitude which goes hand
in hand with the spirit of the Enlightenment. A note at the end of the German
libretto underscores this idea in a curious way: “Die Büchlein
hiervon seynd in WELSCH und Deutscher Sprach beysammen bey dem Eingang des
Teatri zu haben”.16 Since the early
seventeenth century, the word “Welsch” had become a derogatory
expression used mainly for the Italian language and frequently for the Italian
people. It is obvious that a criticism of some kind is intended.
Even though Telemann's compositions are separated
by 34 years, the older one Sancio oder die siegende grossmuth (1727)
already belongs to the genre “Singspiel.” The libretto differs
little from the episodes on the island, taken from Part II, Chapter 49, and
does not merit a detailed discussion. The later work, however, which dates
from 1761 should be examined more closely. It
14 One
can describe this only as a type of séance, where Albarosa seeks to
support her already shaky religious belief by consulting the world of spirit
communications.
15 This is the
time of the pragmatic sanction in Austria, when Charles VI in an edict (1713
and 1724) secured the succession to the throne for a daughter. In fact, his
daughter, Maria Theresia, born in 1717 ascended the throne in 1740.
16 Translation:
The booklets are available in Italian and German at the entrance of the
theatre.
|
| 12.1 (1992) |
Some forgotten Don Quijote(s) |
55 |
|
appears under three different titles: Basilio und Quiteria, Don
Quichotte auf der Hochzeit des Comacho and Don Quixote der
Löwenritter.
Daniel Schiebeler, (1741-1771) the librettist,
was only eighteen years old when he conceived the idea for a libretto drawn
from the well-known episode “the wedding of Camacho”. This idea
came from his extensive study of the Spanish language and its literature.
Schiebeler worked with the original Spanish text of the Don Quixote
in order to create a libretto that met his own high standards. We know from
some of his correspondence that he owned and worked with a copy of the 1744
edition of Vida y Hechos del ingenioso Hidalgo D. Q. de la Mancha
published by Gregorio Mayáns y Síscar. Schiebeler presented
Telemann with a draft of this libretto which he entitled “Basilio und
Quiteria”. At that time Telemann was almost 80 years old. He fell in
love with the piece and agreed to compose the music. In dramatizing the plot
of this episode, Schiebeler divided it into five scenes with a ballet. Precise
stage directions were given. Nevertheless, Telemann revised the whole libretto
rigorously and produced a text better suited for the type of music he had
in mind. He completely cut the third scene which, in Cervantes' original,
is also an allegorical scene used to adorn the wedding feast in the style
of an “hablada”.17 Schiebeler had
taken this scene almost literally from Cervantes, showing the mock battle
between Wealth and Love in the form of a “Singballet”. Telemann's
perception of the final composition did not allow for a ballet scene.
Furthermore, Telemann polished the text so that the verse meter would be
more easily adaptable to his music. The young Schiebeler, sometimes quite
inexperienced in such matters, had not paid attention to those details. The
final version of the libretto, set to music and premiered on the 5th of November
1761, was given the new title Don Quichotte auf der Hochzeit des
Comacho.
In its form, then, the composition is a one
act Singspiel. Telemann took great care to musically contrast the different
characters of the play. Don Quijote and Sancho are portrayed as men of rank,
a bit stuffy at times but with an effect of parody. Their arias remind one
of the somewhat pompous da capo arias that we know from Italian opera seria
and their dialogues are not
17 In
older Spanish folklore books the “hablada” is described as a dance
play spoken and sung which used to be performed outside, in a plaza or the
common, during a village feast. In Part II, Chapter XX, Cervantes includes
an “hablada” during the wedding celebration of the rich Camacho.
|
| 56 |
BARBARA P.
ESQUIVAL-HEINEMANN |
Cervantes |
|
spoken but are still recitatives. The common people, shepherds and countryfolk,
on the other hand, make use of popular melodies and folksong which, at times,
are already reminiscent of the later masters of the Singspiel, Haydn and
Mozart. Another device typical of Telemann, is the incorporation of rhythm
and instrumental techniques peculiar to Spanish folklore. In some songs of
the shepherds we can hear the ostinato rhythm of the drums typical of certain
Spanish folk dances especially the chaconne and the jota
aragonesa.18 The idea to incorporate these
folk motifs was taken by the librettist and the composer from the detailed
description of musical customs and traditions which Cervantes so copiously
mentions in the Quixote. For a musician like Telemann, interested
in stylistic particularities, these descriptions incited the imagination
and prompted him to use them in his composition, shaping them to fit his
style, yet always showing respect for the original creation.
What emerges from this study is the need to
include opera libretti based on Don Quixote in the canon of a
Quixote bibliography. Vital information on the perception, interpretation,
and reading of this literary masterpiece, which, as we have seen, was sometimes
only obtainable through an opera libretto, is otherwise neglected. Such neglect
can lead to erroneous or incomplete conclusions and, on the other hand, can
deprive a scholar of a missing link. It has been shown that interpretative
readings in Germany of the different opera libretti were often the only existing
evidence of literary history and criticism of Don Quixote during a
certain time period. Changes in the interpretation of Cervantes' original
text, especially during German Pre-Romanticism, can only be documented with
the help of opera libretti. It is therefore pertinent that these “Don
Quixotes” not remain consigned to oblivion.
18 The
history of the Chaconne is in itself quite interesting. Mentioned by Cervantes
in the ‘novela ejemplar ’ La Ilustre Fregona as a dance
coming from the Americas, possibly Cuba, it made its way into music via the
principle of the ostinato bass. The dance itself was in uneven measure with
primitive forms of repetition. It is closely related to the Portuguese follia
and the Italian passacaglia. All three played an important role in the
instrumental music of the 17th and 18th century. One of the most famous chaconnes
as instrumental music is Johann Sebastian Bach's Violin Chaconne.
Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de. El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la
Mancha. Edition and notes by Luis Andrés Murillo, I-II. Madrid:
Castalia, 1978.
——. The delightful history of the most ingenious knight Don
Quixote of la Mancha. Part I. Trans. Thomas Shelton, 1612; edition and
notes, Charles W. Eliot, New York: Colliers and Son, 1906.
——. Juncker Zwarckfladens aus Fleckenland Chapters 1-23.
Trans. Aeschacius Major, 1648; edition and notes by Hermann Tiemann. Hamburg:
XXI Congress of Modern Languages, 1933.
Baselt, Bernd. “Zum Typ der komischen Oper bei G. Ph. Telemann.”
G. Ph. Telemann. Ein bedeutender Meister der Aufklärungsepoche,
Magdeburger-Telemann Festtage June 22-26, 1967. Magdeburg, 1967, Part I,
73-96.
——. “G. Ph. Telemanns Serenade ‘Don Quichotte auf der
Hochzeit des Comacho’ Beiträge zur Entstehungsgeschichte von Telemanns
letzem Hamburger Bühnenstück.” G. Ph. Telemann und seine
letzten Werke, Magdeburger Telemann-Festtage August 7-10, 1970. Magdeburg,
1971, 85-100.
Bergel, Lienhard. “Cervantes in Germany.” Cervantes Across the
Centuries. Ed. Angel Flores and M. J. Bernadete. New York: The Dryden
Press, 1947, 305-42.
Close, Anthony. The Romantic Approach to Don Quixote. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1978.
Melz, Christian F. An Evaluation of the Earliest German Translation of
‘Don Quixote’, ‘Juncker Harnisch aus
Fleckenland’. Los Angeles: University of California Publication,
1945.
57
|
Digitized with
the help of Contessa Marion |
|