''Der Vampyr'' (''The Vampire'') is an

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libre ...

(designated as a ''

Romantische Oper ''Romantische Oper'' () was a genre of early nineteenth-century German opera, developed not from the German Singspiel of the eighteenth-century but from the opéras comiques of the French Revolution. It offered opportunities for an increasingly i ...

'') in three acts by

Peter Josef von Lindpaintner Peter Josef von Lindpaintner (8 December 1791 – 21 August 1856) was a German composer and conductor. Born in Koblenz as the son of a tenor, he studied with Peter Winter and Joseph Graetz. From 1819 onwards he was based in Stuttgart. Some of ...

. The German libretto by Cäsar Max Hegel was based on a work by Heinrich Ludwig Ritter, based in turn on a French melodrama by

Charles Nodier Jean Charles Emmanuel Nodier (29 April 1780 – 27 January 1844) was a French author and librarian who introduced a younger generation of Romanticists to the ''conte fantastique'', gothic literature, and vampire tales. His dream related writings ...

Pierre Carmouche Pierre Carmouche (9 April 1797 - 9 December 1868) was a French playwright and chansonnier. He wrote more than 200 successful plays, comedies, comédies en vaudevilles and texts for opéras comiques, in collaboration with diverse authors - Brazi ...

and Achille de Jouffroy, ultimately traceable to the short story "

The Vampyre "The Vampyre" is a short work of prose fiction written in 1819 by John William Polidori taken from the story Lord Byron told as part of a contest among Polidori, Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, and Percy Shelley. The same contest produced the novel ' ...

" (1819) by

John William Polidori John William Polidori (7 September 1795 – 24 August 1821) was a British writer and physician. He is known for his associations with the Romantic movement and credited by some as the creator of the vampire genre of fantasy fiction. His most succ ...

, although Lindpaintner's libretto credits, erroneously,

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

. Other early 19th-century operas on the same theme were

Silvestro de Palma Silvestro Palma sometimes De Palma or Da Palma (March 15, 1754 – August 8, 1834) was an Italian composer, primarily of operas. He was born in Barano d'Ischia, was a student of Giovanni Paisiello, and collaborated on a number of works with Paisi ...

's ''I vampiri'' (1812),

Martin-Joseph Mengal Martin-Joseph Mengal (27 January 1784 - 4 July 1851) was a Belgian composer and teacher. Mengal came from a musical family and received horn and violin lessons as a child, and by the age of 13 played first horn at the Ghent opera. From 1804 Meng ...

's ''Le vampire'' (1826), and

Heinrich Marschner Heinrich August Marschner (16 August 1795 – 14 December 1861) was the most important composer of German opera between Weber and Wagner.

's ''

Der Vampyr '' Der Vampyr '' (''The Vampire'') is a Romantic opera in two acts by Heinrich Marschner. The German libretto by Wilhelm August Wohlbrück (Marschner's brother-in-law) is based on the play ''Der Vampir oder die Totenbraut'' (1821) by Heinrich Ludw ...

'' of the same year as Lindpaintner's opera (1828).

Performance history

The first performance took place at the in Stuttgart on 21 September

1828 Events January–March * January 4 – Jean Baptiste Gay, vicomte de Martignac succeeds the Comte de Villèle, as Prime Minister of France. * January 8 – The Democratic Party of the United States is organized. * January 22 – Arthu ...

. It proved the most successful of the composer's operas. Lindpaintner made a revised version of the opera in 1850, when he put

recitative Recitative (, also known by its Italian name "''recitativo''" ()) is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repea ...

s in the place of the original spoken dialogue.

Roles

Synopsis

The scene of the action is in the south of France (''not'' Scotland), though in general it follows the same story as Marschner's ''Der Vampyr''.

References

External links

* * * Libretto, Wikimedia Commons {{DEFAULTSORT:Vampyr, Der Operas Operas by Peter Josef von Lindpaintner Romantische Opern German-language operas 1828 operas Operas set in France Vampires in music Operas based on literature Adaptations of works by Charles Nodier

Performance history

Roles

Synopsis

References

Further reading

External links