A German opera in a cosmopolitan spirit, that is Gaspare Spontini’s opera “Agnes von Hohenstaufen”  premiered in 1827 in Berlin. Now the Theater Erfurt is taking on this spectacular work.

1 June 2018 will be a very special date for opera lovers. At the Erfurt Theatre an opera will be performed which is one of the most exciting works of the 19th century in terms of cultural history and musicology. This is coupled at the same time with the claim which accompanied the work back then, that it might be one of the most difficult and complex pieces in the history of opera. In short, that may be so: Agnes von Hohenstaufen as a kind of Prussian national opera, written by a French composer with an Italian name, is a curious but exciting case. Gaspare Spontini, the composer of this opera, threatened to burst the bounds of the genre and at the same time pointed to the future with his musico-dramatic solutions.

Born in Maiolati, Italy in 1774, Spontini was engaged by the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III in 1820 as Generalmusikdirektor in Berlin. He was a personality whose name was famous throughout Europe, above all for the two grand operas he had composed in Napoleonic Paris. La Vestale and Fernand Cortez had achieved international fame rapidly after their premières in 1807 and 1809. For Berlin he revised his Parisian works, but also composed new pieces for the Hofoper. Though this was not possible to the extent envisaged in his contract, by 1825 he had presented three works in Lalla Rûkh, Nurmahal and Alcidor. As a conductor and orchestral director of the Berlin court ensemble, he became famous for the artistic and high-quality performances of his own works, operas by Gluck and Mozart and some works by Beethoven. Agnes von Hohenstaufen, which was premièred in its first version in 1827 and performed in later versions in 1829 and 1837, occupied him almost until the end of his period in Berlin. Around 1840 disputes about him intensified which led to his dismissal from service in 1841. He moved via Paris finally to his native Italy, where he died in Maiolati in 1851.

With his magnum opus Agnes von Hohenstaufen, Spontini composed a German opera in a cosmopolitan spirit. In the opera, set in the Middle Ages in locations on the Rhine, the conflict between the Welfs and Staufens is at the centre, associated with the places and time according to historical tradition. Like Meyerbeer’s Les Huguenots of 1836, the plot constructs its own historicity. That is to say, it adapts the handed-down tradition to current conditions, since they had to be suitable for opera and politically correct. The absorption and the engagement with the past, laden with significance, in a theatrical i.e. visually-musically and sensual performance, was an important idea in the conception of this history opera from the very beginning. The libretto, by various different authors, clearly places the plot in the year 1194. And the locations where the opera takes place advance to become like protagonists in the drama: the Rhine with its mountains, the city of Mainz with its medieval churches as exterior locations and the interior views of the castle and monastery church.

The plot
1st Act: The German knights and princes are preparing for a military campaign against Sicily. Emperor Henry VI von Hohenstaufen renews the imperial ban against the son of Henry the Lion, his arch enemy.
 Henry the Younger finds himself a prisoner of the French. He is the beloved of the Emperor’s daughter Agnes von Hohenstaufen. Her mother Irmengard begs for mercy for him. But the Emperor wants to give Agnes to the French King as a wife. Henry, who has escaped, approaches the court in disguise and learns from his friend Philip von Hohenstaufen of the marriage contract. Philip arranges a meeting for Agnes and Henry. At the preparations for court festivities to which the Princes are invited in honour of the French ambassador, a warning is received about an attack on Henry the Lion’s troops. The feast begins with an announcement by Henry VI that Agnes is to marry the French King. It culminates in a general dance, in which both the rivals for Agnes also take part: Henry, masked, and Philip August incognito as his own ambassador. Henry is unmasked and only just escapes the death sentence.

2nd Act: The conflict between Henry, now captured, and Philip August is to be settled in a duel. Henry flees. In order to find comfort in prayer, Agnes has made her way into a monastery church where she soon finds Henry. Irmengard initiates a secret wedding conducted by the Archbishop of Mainz. Philip August with his men follow Henry. At the same time people stream into the church to take shelter from a storm. An open fight threatens to break out between the two opposing groups, but which the Archbishop ultimately prevents.

3rd Act: Henry and Agnes push through to flee. However, they are caught, and Henry is to engage in a duel with Philip August from which he emerges victorious. In order to avoid death, Philip August now disguises himself as the French King. Irmengard reports that Agnes is already married to Henry. The Emperor’s rage stirs up the Prince’s opposition, so that an open altercation threatens. But an unknown black knight prevents this. It is Henry the Lion, whose troops are already camped at the Rhine and who have already deprived the Emperor of his power base. Henry the Lion and Henry the Younger do not insist on victory, but offer the Emperor the hand of friendship.

Prussian artists of the first rank were involved in the première of Agnes in 1827: the music was by the Generalmusikdirektor, Karl Friedrich Schinkel created the set designs and Carl Graf von Brühl the costume designs. With this history opera, the theatre became a kind of educational institution identified with the idea of nationhood. With Agnes von Hohenstaufen, colourful historical tableaux were created which, in the extended time-scale of the musical and theatrical version, claim immediacy for themselves, and reveal themselves as the vehicle for living history.
With Spontini the visual is composed into the music. The image functions as a musical unity, and as a stage set gives Spontini the framework for the composition. Of course Agnes von Hohenstaufen is a through-composed opera, for which Spontini abandoned the principle of the number opera in some parts, placing the scene at the centre as the decisive musico-dramatic unity, something which Wagner was able to take up.

Spontini’s music is characterized by a new monumentality, on the one hand relating to the formal and on the other to the tonal. The composer enhances the status of the recitative, and reduces the value of the aria as the solo form. The extension of the form corresponds with the refinement of the diversity of colours which follow the ideal of the blended sound.

Even in Spontini’s and Schinkel’s time Agnes von Hohenstaufen was performed just 19 times. Now, finally, the wait is over: the first performance since 1840 of the German-language original version, using the new edition of 2001 by Jens Wildgruber, will be given in Erfurt. The first performance on 1 June will be accompanied by a conference on Spontini.

Anno Mungen
(from [t]akte 1/2018)