Gruber, HK

Gloria von Jaxtberg (1992-94)

Duration: 90 minutes
Two-act music-theatre work for 5 singers and 9 session musicians plus harp

Libretto by Rudolf Herfurtner. English translation by Amanda Holden (G,E)

Scoring
S,M,T,Bar,B asax(=fl/cl/bcl).tsax(=fl/cl)-2tpt(=2flugel hn).tbn.tuba- perc(1):drum set/glsp/vib-harp-vln.
Abbreviations (PDF).

Territory
This work is available from Boosey & Hawkes for the world.

World Premiere
11/17/1994
Lawrence Batley Th., Huddersfield
Helmut Danninger, director
Conductor: Stefan Asbury
Company: Opera North

Roles

Gloria	Soprano
Solo pig and other roles	Mezzo Soprano
Gerhard and other roles	Tenor
Farmer and other roles	Baritone
Rodrigo and other roles	Bass

Time and Place
A farm in the mountains

Synopsis

Gloria is rather special from the beginning because she has naturally curly golden hair and she knows she is the most beautiful pig in the mountains. Unfortunately, she is also the saddest, as the pigs in her sty are envious and spiteful and cannot tolerate anything out of the ordinary. Her cousin Gerhard and his troop of fellow swine make this unmistakably clear to her in the ‘March of the Pedigree Pigs’: the pedigree white German pig is blond, and its hair is short with no nonsense about it. Anything else is deviant, really deviant – almost as bad as being a wild pig. Gloria, this lovely lady pig, is left with only her hopes and her longings. But longings are like blindfolds, so Gloria does not realise that the Prince, when he finally comes, is actually the butcher. The poor little sausages hanging on the wall sing her a song of thwarted hope, but their warnings seem to be in vain. The whole thing threatens to end in sausages – until love puts in an appearance in the shape of Rodrigo, the wild hero. He knows the ways of the world and he knows the butcher, and he rescues the gorgeous lady pig. At last it all turns out just as the oxen said it would.
Rudolf Herfurtner

Moods
Comic

Subjects
Contemporary, Environment, Ethics, Relationships, Politics, Society