The Prince of Homburg (Der Prinz von Homburg)
Commissioned by the Hamburgische Staatsoper
Period of composition 1958-59
New orchestration 1991 1991
Duration 130 minutes
Adapted for music by Ingeborg Bachmann
(English by Fred Bridgham)
In honour of Igor Stravinsky
World premiere
World premiere 22. May 1960
Hamburg
Staatsoper
Production Helmut Käutner
Stage and costume design Alfred Siercke
Conductor Leopold Ludwig
Uraufführung of the new verison 24. July 1992
München
Bayerische Staatsoper (Cuvilliés- Theater)
Production Nikolaus Lehnhoff
Stage and costume design Gottfried Pilz
Conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch
Comment
For the première in Munich I made some revisions to the score which affected the orchestra but not the vocal parts. I had been thinking for some time of eliminating any doubling and bringing out the descriptive nature of the music. I removed some idiosyncratic percussion instruments from the score and made the wind passages more transparent, improving the balance of forces between singing voice and instrument. The conflicts between dream and reality, and freedom and compulsion which are at the forefront of Kleist’s drama, are achieved in this work through the creation of a set of clearly perceptible tensions between a strictly structured serialism (which is also applied to rhythm and dynamics) and the use of free tonality.
Hans Werner Henze
Cast
| Prinzessin Natalie von Oranien | soprano | niece of the Elector of Brandenburg, chief of a regiment of dragoons |
| soprano | 1st courtesan | |
| mezzosoprano | 2nd courtesan | |
| contralto | 3rd courtesan | |
| contralto | Electress | |
| Friedrich Wilhelm | tenore eroico | Elector of Brandenburg |
| Graf Hohenzollern | tenore lirico | of the Elector’s retinue |
| Feldmarschall Dörfling | baritono | |
| Prinz Friedrich Artur von Homburg | baritono acuto | general of the cavalry |
| baritono | sergeant | |
| Obrist Kottwitz | basso | of the Princess of Orange’s regiment |
| tenore | 1st officer | |
| baritono | 2nd officer | |
| basso | 3rd officer | |
| tenore | 1st heiduck | |
| baritono | 2nd heiduck | |
| coro maschile ad lib. | other officers | |
| personaggi muti | pages, servants, guards, runners, standard bearers, soldiers |
Instrumentation
Nuova orchestrazione 1991
| 2 Flauti | 2° anche Ottavino e Flauto contralto |
| 1 Oboe | |
| 1 Corno inglese | |
| 1 Clarinetto | |
| 1 Clarinetto basso | |
| 2 Fagotti | 2° anche Controfagotto |
| 2 Corni | |
| 2 Trombe | |
| 2 Tromboni | |
| Timpani | |
| Percussione | Triangolo 2 Campanacci Piatti sospesi Piatti a due 3 Tamtam 3 Tomtom Tamburo basco Tamburo militare 2 Casse rullanti (sulla scena ad lib.) Grancassa, Verga Glockenspiel Cam pane tubolari [per 3] |
| Pianoforte | |
| Arpa | |
| Archi |
Banda
| 1 Flauto |
| 1 Oboe |
| 1 Clarinetto |
| 1 Fagotto |
| 1 Corno |
| 2 Trombe |
| Tamburo piccolo |
| 1 Violino |
| 1 Viola |
| 1 Violoncello |