Kienzl, Wilhelm

Der Evangelimann (1893-94)

Duration: 135 minutes
A musical play in two acts (three scenes)

Libretto by the composer after ‘Aus den Berichten eines Polizeicommissärs’ by Dr Leopold Florian Meißner (G); English version by Percy Pinkerton

Scoring
S,dramS,2lyrS,2M,A,dramT,lyrT,buffoT,2Bar,2B,buffoB; children's chorus; chorus; 3(III=picc).2(II=corA).2.bcl.2.dbn-4.3.3.1-timp.perc-harp-pft-strings; Off-stage:signalhn.tpt.3trbn.tuba-perc-harp-harmonium-org.
Abbreviations (PDF).

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

World Premiere
5/4/1895
Königliches Opernhaus, Berlin
Company: Unknown

Roles

FRIEDRICH ENGEL, magistrate in the monastery of St. Othmar	Bass
MARTHA, his niece and charge	Dramatic Soprano
MAGDALENA, her friend	Contralto
JOHANNES FREUDHOFER, shool teacher in St. Othmar	Baritone
MATHIAS FREUDHOFER, his younger brother, clerk in the monastery	Dramatic Tenor
XAVER ZITTERBART, tailor	Buffo Tenor
ANTON SCHNAPPAUF, gun-smith	Buffo Bass
FRIEDRICH AIBLER, an older citizen	Baritone
HIS WIFE	Mezzo Soprano
FRAU HUBER	Lyric Soprano
HANS, a farmer's boy	Lyric Tenor
VOICE OF THE 'SKITTLE BOY'	Lyric Soprano
VOICE OF THE NIGHT-WATCHMAN	Bass
RAGWOMAN	Mezzo Soprano
BOY	Soprano
ORGAN GRINDER
ABBOT
Benedictines, Citizens, Peasants, Farm labourers
Children

Time and Place
In the Benedictine monastery of St. Othmar in Lower Austria in the year 1820; Vienna in the year 1850

Synopsis

Mathias, clerk in the monastery of St. Othmar, is in love with Martha, the foster daughter of the magistrate Friedrich Engel. Mathias’s brother Johannes is jealous of Martha’s affection and starts an intrigue against him. When the magistrate is informed of what is happening between his charge and Mathias, he dismisses the clerk and expels him from the monastery. Martha resists Johannes’s intrusiveness. When Johannes witnesses Martha and Mathias swearing fidelity to each other at the farewell, his jealousy turns into blind hate and he sets the monastery on fire. It is not he, however, but Mathias, who is arrested as the alleged wrongdoer. Mathias has served a twenty-year sentence and, having been denied re-integration into society, travels the country as an itinerant preacher. Martha took her life after his imprisonment, Johannes has become rich by dishonest means and lives in Vienna, now a severely ill man. Thirty years after the events at St. Othmar the brothers meet again. Mathias forgives Johannes, who can thus die in peace.

Moods
Dramatic, Romantic

Subjects
Relationships, Religion, Society

Recommended Recording
Siegfried Jerusalem/Kurt Moll/Tölz Boy's Choir/Bavarian Radio Chours/Lothar Zagrosek
Opera CMS5663702
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