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''Lohengrin'', WWV 75, is a Romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the ''Parzival'' of Wolfram von Eschenbach and its sequel, ''Lohengrin'', written by a different author, itself inspired by the epic of ''Garin le Loherain''. It is part of the Knight of the Swan tradition. The opera has proved inspirational towards other works of art. Among those deeply moved by the fairy-tale opera was the young King Ludwig II of Bavaria. "Der Märchenkönig" ("The Fairy-tale King"), as he was dubbed, later built his ideal fairy-tale castle and dubbed it "New Swan Stone", or "Neuschwanstein", after the Swan Knight. It was King Ludwig's patronage that later gave Wagner the means and opportunity to compose, build a theatre for, and stage his epic cycle ''The Ring of the Nibelung''. The most popular and recognizable part of the opera is the Bridal Chorus, better known as "Here Comes the Bride", often played as a processional at weddings in the West. == Performance history == The first production of ''Lohengrin'' was in Weimar, Germany, on 28 August 1850 at the Staatskapelle Weimar under the direction of Franz Liszt, a close friend and early supporter of Wagner. Liszt chose the date in honour of Weimar's most famous citizen, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who was born on 28 August 1749.〔''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', 5th ed., 1954〕 Despite the inadequacies of the lead tenor Karl Beck,〔Wagner had written the act 3 tenor monologue ''In fernem Land'' (the "Grail Narration") in two parts, however, he asked Liszt to cut the second part from the premiere performance, as he felt Karl Beck could not do it justice and it would result in an anticlimax. That unfortunate circumstance established the tradition of performing only the first part of the Narration.(see (Peter Bassett, "An Introduction to Wagner's ''Lohengrin'': A paper given to the Patrons and Friends of Opera Australia", Sydney 2001) )) In fact, the first time the second part was ever sung at the Bayreuth Festival was by Franz Völker during the lavish 1936 production, which Adolf Hitler personally ordered and took a close interest in, to demonstrate what a connoisseur of Wagner he was. (see (Opera-L Archives ))〕 it was an immediate popular success. Wagner himself was unable to attend the first performance, having been exiled because of his part in the 1849 May Uprising in Dresden. Although he conducted various extracts in concert in Zurich, London, Paris and Brussels, it was not until 1861 in Vienna that he was able to attend a full performance.〔Cesare Gertonani, writing in Teatro alla Scala programme for Lohengrin, December 2012, p.90〕 The opera's first performance outside German-speaking lands was in Riga on 5 February 1855. The Austrian premiere took place in Vienna at the Theater am Kärntnertor on 19 August 1858, with Róza Csillag as Ortrud.〔(Playbill ), Austrian National Library〕 The work was produced in Munich for the first time at the National Theatre on 16 June 1867, with Heinrich Vogl in the title role and Mathilde Mallinger as Elsa. Mallinger also took the role of Elsa in the work's premiere at the Berlin State Opera on 6 April 1869. ''Lohengrins Russian premiere, outside Riga, took place at the Mariinsky Theatre on 16 October 1868. The Belgian premiere of the opera was given at La Monnaie on 22 March 1870 with Étienne Troy as Friedrich of Telramund and Feliciano Pons as Heinrich der Vogler. The United States premiere of ''Lohengrin'' took place at the Stadt Theater at the Bowery in New York City on 3 April 1871.〔Gustav Kobbé, ''The Complete Opera Book'' (Putnam, London 1929 printing), p. 117. The first Academy performance was 23 March 1874 with Christina Nilsson, Cary, Italo Campanini and Del Puente (ibid.). See "Wagner in the Bowery", ''Scribner's Monthly Magazine'' 1871, 214–16; ''The New York Times'', (Opera at the Stadt Theater ), 3 May 1871〕 Conducted by Adolf Neuendorff, the cast included Theodor Habelmann as Lohengrin, Luise Garay-Lichtmay as Elsa, Marie Frederici as Ortrud, Adolf Franosch as Heinrich and Edward Vierling as Telramund.〔''The New York Times'', ("Wagner's ''Lohengrin''" ), 8 April 1871. See also Opera Gems.com, (''Lohengrin'' )〕 The first performance in Italy took place seven months later at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna on 1 November 1871 in an Italian translation by operatic baritone Salvatore Marchesi. It was notably the first performance of any Wagner opera in Italy. Angelo Mariani conducted the performance, which starred Italo Campanini as Lohengrin, Bianca Blume as Elsa, Maria Löwe Destin as Ortrud, Pietro Silenzi as Telramund, and Giuseppe Galvani as Heinrich der Vogler.〔 The performance on 9 November was attended by Giuseppe Verdi, who annotated a copy of the vocal score with his impressions and opinions of Wagner (this was almost certainly his first exposure to Wagner's music).〔(Istituto Nazionale di Studi Verdiani )〕 La Scala produced the opera for the first time on 30 March 1873, with Campanini as Lohengrin, Gabrielle Krauss as Elsa, Philippine von Edelsberg as Ortrud, Victor Maurel as Friedrich, and Gian Pietro Milesi as Heinrich.〔 The United Kingdom premiere of ''Lohengrin'' took place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on 8 May 1875 using the Italian translation by Marchesi. conducted the performance, which featured Ernesto Nicolini as Lohengrin, Emma Albani as Elsa, Anna D'Angeri as Ortruda, Maurel as Friedrich, and Wladyslaw Seideman as Heinrich. The opera's first performance in Australia took place at the Prince of Wales Theatre in Melbourne on 18 August 1877. The Metropolitan Opera mounted the opera for the first time on 7 November 1883, in Italian, during the company's inaugural season. Campanini portrayed the title role with Christina Nilsson as Elsa, Emmy Fursch-Madi as Ortrud, Giuseppe Kaschmann as Telramund, Franco Novara as Heinrich, and Auguste Vianesi conducting.〔 ''Lohengrin'' was first publicly performed in France at the Eden-Théâtre in Paris on 30 April 1887 in a French translation by Charles-Louis-Étienne Nuitter. Conducted by Charles Lamoureux, the performance starred Ernest van Dyck as the title hero, Fidès Devriès as Elsa, Marthe Duvivier as Ortrud, Emil Blauwaert as Telramund, and Félix-Adolphe Couturier as Heinrich. There was however an 1881 French performance given as a Benefit, in the Cercle de la Méditerranée Salon at Nice, organized by Sophie Cruvelli, in which she took the role of Elsa.〔Elizabeth Forbes, ('Sophie Cruvelli' (short biography) ), Arts.jrank.org〕 The opera received its Canadian premiere at the opera house in Vancouver on 9 February 1891 with Emma Juch as Elsa. The Palais Garnier staged the work for the first time the following 16 September with van Dyck as Lohengrin, Rose Caron as Elsa, Caroline Fiérens-Peters as Ortrude, Maurice Renaud as Telramund, and Charles Douaillier as Heinrich.〔 The first Chicago performance of the opera took place at the Auditorium Building (now part of Roosevelt University) on 9 November 1891. Performed in Italian, the production starred Jean de Reszke as the title hero, Emma Eames as Elsa, and Édouard de Reszke as Heinrich.〔 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「Lohengrin (opera)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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