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''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 amateur 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 , 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. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Erwin und Elmire」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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