Preface to the first edition of Meyerbeer Studien 1/1997, published by G. Ricordi & Co.
Translated from the German, published here by express permission of the author, as revised specially for the Meyerbeer Fan Club
On the first edition of Meyerbeer Studies
by Wolfgang Kühnhold
In many respects, the year 1991
became significant for Meyerbeer scholarship. The external
impetus was the two hundredth anniversary of Giacomo Meyerbeer's
birthday. In various places and in various disciplines, work was
going on with this date in mind. Scholars and musicians felt
themselves challenged to take a position in regard to the
composer and his work. The president of
the Republic devoted a gala matinee to him; the State Library in
Berlin, in collaboration with Gudrun and Heinz Becker, arranged
an exhibition. Everything seemed to point to the possibility of
renewed attention to Meyerbeer at the end of the twentieth
century.
However, little received public attention; a certain
dissatisfaction on the part of all those who were interested in
Meyerbeer cannot be denied. Was that the reason that a strong and
immediate reaction among the great opera houses was absent? Had
the scholars withdrawn too much into their so often decried ivory
tower? Or was it the slow reaction of those who are responsible
in the area of culture?
In any case, in the anniversary year there were two symposiums on
Giacomo Meyerbeer: the first was organized by the Research
Institute for Musical Theater of the University of Bayreuth
(FIMT) in Thurnau, the second by the Meyerbeer Project of the
University of Paderborn. The papers of the contributors have as
yet not been published.
A further important event must be reported, even though it
remained widely ignored. In November 1991, the Meyerbeer
Institute was founded in Reinbek on the initiative of Gudrun and
Heinz Becker; this institute has made it its task "to
promote the work of Giacomo Meyerbeer and to create an awareness
of it as a significant contribution to Europe's cultural
heritage".(1) An important part of this is the supervision
of a modern Meyerbeer edition. Today one can say that this is
already well underway.
The edition of Meyerbeer's letters (2), edited
since 1960 by Gudrun and Heinz Becker, is being continued by
Sabine Henze-Döhring in Marburg; the fifth volume is expected to
appear in 1998. At about the same time, the first published work
to appear in the new Meyerbeer edition will be available: Robert
le Diable, edited by the Meyerbeer Project at the University of
Paderborn under the direction of Wolfgang Kühnhold. Le Prophète
(editor: Matthias Brzoska) and Les Huguenots (editors: Milan
Pospísil and Marta Ottlová) will follow. In addition, three
volumes of Giacomo Meyerbeer: Opera Arias (3) are now
commercially available; a fourth volume is in press. The editor,
Peter Kaiser, research associate in the Meyerbeer Project of the
University of Paderborn, is also responsible for the edition of
Margherita d'Anjou.
Nor are the theaters silent: premiere performances of Robert le
Diable and Le Prophète are in preparation at the State Operas in
Berlin and Vienna, respectively. We will report on these projects
and announce the dates. Independent of the efforts of the
Meyerbeer Institute, the Wexford Festival produced a new
production of L'Etoile du Nord in October and November of 1996.
In September 1995, an innovative symposium, Meyerbeer and the
Dance, took place; the publication of the papers presented is in
preparation and will be available at Vienna production of Le
Prophète in May 1998. Closely connected with that was an
exhibition, which in the meantime was also shown in other cities
and which could be seen in Salzburg in July 1996, again in
conjunction with a symposium. These activities reflect the
efforts of Gunhild Oberzaucher-Schüller, in collaboration with
the Meyerbeer Institute.
As a further contribution deriving from the program of the
Meyerbeer Institute, the first number of a series, called
"Meyerbeer-Studien", has been published.
It includes, among other things, research papers, articles, and
essays which are connected with the Paderborn symposium
"Theater, Music, and Society in the 19th Century: Giacomo
Meyerbeer". It opens with a contribution by Sieghart
Döhring which first appeared in a somewhat modified version in
the catalogue to the exhibition "Giacomo Meyerbeer -- A
World Citizen of Music".(4) Appropriate to its purpose, it
is in the style of an essay, and was presented as the opening
lecture at the Paderborn symposium. In this, its programmatic
form, it is to inaugurate the Meyerbeer Studies. The article by
Udo Bermbach is also to be understood as a essay. Bermbach had to
withdraw from the symposium on short notice, but submitted the
text of his presentation later, not knowing that its publication
would take so long. Nevertheless, his contribution, from the
perspective of sociology, is well suited to stimulate discussion
of Meyerbeer's great works. Albert Gier, too, also uses
sociological methods in his investigation, which, in addition to
Sieghart Döhring's observations, set the tone at the opening of
the Paderborn symposium; he regards the situation in the opera
theaters of Paris as defining factors in the work of Meyerbeer.
One can get an idea of how deeply Gier has submerged himself in
this material from his insistence on using the masculine form
"der Grand Opéra" in the printed version -- a usage
which is quite unusual in German. Jean-Claude Yon, in his
contribution, illuminates the working relationship between Scribe
and Meyerbeer, while Gerd Rienacker subjects the relationship
between Wagner and Meyerbeer to detailed reflection. Finally,
Siegfried Irmer devotes himself to only a few measures from one
of Meyerbeer's works, a motif from the "Grand Duo" from
the fourth act of Les Huguenots, and traces its transformation
and migration from Meyerbeer to other composers.
Published and presented for general discussion in this issue are
also the editorial guidelines for the Meyerbeer edition, which
Robert Didion has worked out in consultation with the directors
of the edition. By so doing, an important step has been taken to
lighten the philological labors of the editors and to give to the
edition a unitary format.
For one of the next issues, I am able to announce a collection of
articles prepared by Heinz Becker. Contributions from Robert I.
Letellier, Gerd Müller, Marta Ottlová, and Milan Pospí il
originating in the Paderborn symposium are still awaiting
publication. Moreover, issues focusing on a single topic are
being planned: "Meyerbeer and the Dance" and
"Meyerbeer's Stage in the Framework of the Arts: Conception
and Realization of Grand Opéra" -- both symposium reports
-- will head the list. One of our concerns, too, is the
re-publication of important documents
of the time which are difficult of access. Moreover, as is
customary with such a publication, the readership should also
participate. Suggestions and manuscripts should be sent to the
editorial staff: Meyerbeer Project, University of Paderborn,
D-33095 Paderborn, e-mail: ckueh@hrz.uni-paderborn.de The Meyerbeer-Studien will appear on average twice a
year, but not on a fixed schedule.
In other respects, the editors hope that they have created a
basis with the Meyerbeer-Studien which will make it possible to
carry on a lively, interdisciplinary discussion, not only about
Giacomo Meyerbeer and his work, but also about his age and his
contemporaries.
(1) Text from the advertising brochure of the Meyerbeer
Institute.
(2) Giacomo Meyerbeer, Briefwechsel und Tagebücher, edited by
Heinz and Gudrun Becker. Vol. 1: Berlin, 1960; Vol. 2: 1970; Vol.
3: 1975; Vol. 4: 1985.
(3) Giacomo Meyerbeer, Opern-Arien, edited by Peter Kaiser. Vol.
1: Bass/baritone, Kassel, 1995; Vol. 2: Tenor, 1995; Vol. 3:
Alto/Mezzo-Soprano, 1996.
(4) Giacomo Meyerbeer -- Weltbürger der Musik. An exhibition of
the Music Department of the State Library of the Prussian
Cultural Foundation on the occasion of the 200th birthday of the
composer, from 31 October 1991 to 5 January 1992 [catalogue by
Heinz and Gudrun Becker] Berlin, 1991 (Reichert), pp. 26-33.
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