The Eternal Road
The Eternal Road is an opera-oratorio with spoken dialogue in four acts by Kurt Weill with a libretto (originally in German: Der Weg der Verheissung – The Way of the Covenant), by Austrian novelist and playwright Franz Werfel and translated into English by Ludwig Lewisohn.
The Eternal Road premiered at the Manhattan Opera House on January 7, 1937, given a lavish and spectacular production involving 245 actors, and ran for 153 performances. Although it received good reviews, it was not revived for 63 years.
The piece was conceived by Zionist activist Meyer Weisgal to alert the then-ignorant public to Hitler's persecution of the Jews in 1937 Germany. Weisgal enlisted the help of director Max Reinhardt, who found Weill to compose the music and Werfel to write the libretto. Set in a synagogue where Jews hide all night as a pogrom rages outside, the story combines Biblical and pre-World War II Jewish history. The rabbi reads from the Torah, leading, in each act, to the exploration and re-enactment of a different Biblical theme. At the conclusion, the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the deportation of those hiding become one, while the despair of a scattered people is balanced by a messianic voice that speaks of hope for deliverance of the Jews in Zion – (although by 1937 Jews were unable to emigrate from Germany to most countries and were barred from Palestine).[1] The music evokes cantorial lamentations, classical fugues and showtunes, among other styles.[2]
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[edit] Performance history
After its initial performances, the first revival took place in Chemnitz, Germany, and then at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City during the 1999/2000 season (the 100th anniversary of Weill's birth and the 50th of his death). This was partly because of the six hour running time, even after substantial cuts had been made.[3]
In 1998 David Drew devised a concert adaptation from the fourth act of The Eternal Road, titled Propheten (Prophets); Drew used German text by Franz Werfel and Bible passages. Supplemental orchestration was provided by Noam Sheriff. It was first performed on May 28, 1998, in Vienna with the Österreichische Rundfunkorchester, Dennis Russell Davies conducting. It was subsequently performed at the BBC Proms, who had commissioned the work, in the Royal Albert Hall in July 1998 with Matthias Bamert conducting.[4]
[edit] Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast 7 January 1937 (Conductor: Isaac Van Grove) |
|---|---|---|
| Rabbi | tenor | Myron Taylor |
| The Adversary | speaking role | Sam Jaffe |
| The Timid Soul | speaking role | Mark Schweid |
| The Rich Man | speaking role | Anthony Blair |
| The Estranged One | speaking role | Harold Johnsrud |
| The Estranged One's Son | tenor | Sidney Lumet |
| President of the Congregation | speaking role | David A. Leonard |
| Pious Man | speaking role | Robert Harrison |
| Pious Man | speaking role | Bennett Challis |
| Pious Man | speaking role | Cassius C. Quimby |
| Pious Man | speaking role | Hal Kingsley |
| Fanatic | Roger de Koven | |
| The Watchman | speaking role | David Kurian |
| Boy of the Congregation | speaking role | Nat L. Mintz |
| Jesse | Herbert Rudley | |
| The Alien Girl | speaking role | Olive Deering |
| An Ancient | Charles Hale | |
| Abraham | baritone | Thomas Chalmers |
| Sarah | Bertha Kunz-Baker | |
| Eliezer | baritone | Carl Formes |
| The White Angel | John Uppman | |
| First Dark Angel | Edward Kane | |
| Second Dark Angel | Ben Cutler | |
| Jacob | tenor | Ralph Jameson |
| Rachel | soprano | Sarah Osnath-Halevy |
| Joseph | baritone | Earl Weatherford |
| Reuben | Robert Warren Bentley | |
| Levi | Joseph Macaulay | |
| Zebulon | Kurt Kasznar | |
| Dan | Carl Formes | |
| Naphtali | Edward Fisher | |
| Gad | Leonard Mence | |
| Asher | Edward Vermonti | |
| The Juggler | Florence Meyer | |
| Moses | baritone | Samuel Goldenberg |
| Miriam | soprano | Lotte Lenya |
| Aaron | Noel Cravat | |
| The Adversary's Follower | Benjamin Zemach | |
| Ruth | mezzo-soprano | Katherine Carrington |
| King Saul | baritone | Walter Gilbert |
| Bath-Sheba | mezzo-soprano | Rosamond Pinchot |
| Uriah | Raymond Miller | |
| Voice of God | baritone | |
| Angel of Death | bass | Joseph Macaulay |
| Boaz | baritone | |
| Isaac | treble | Dick Van Patten |
| Reaper | baritone | |
| David | tenor | |
| Chananjah | baritone | |
| Voice of the Angel of the End of Days; Sarah; Isaac; Joseph's Brothers; double chorus, SATB. | ||
| Speaking roles: Pious Men, President, Elders, Women, and Boys of the Congregation, The Estranged One and his son, The Adversary, The Timid Soul, The Rich Man, The Watchman, The Youth, The Strange Girl, The Witch of Endor, Bath-Sheba, Uriah, Zedekiah, Pashur |
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[edit] Reception
- Brooks Atkinson, The New York Times (January 8, 1937) — After an eternity of postponements The Eternal Road has finally arrived at the Manhattan Opera House, where it opened last evening. Let it be said at once that the ten postponements are understood and forgiven. Out of the heroic stories of old Jewish history Max Reinhardt and his many assistants have evoked a glorious pageant of great power and beauty.[5]
[edit] Recordings
- Constance Haumann (soprano), Barbara Rearick (mezzo-soprano), Hanna Wollschlaeger (mezzo-soprano), Ian DeNolfo (tenor), Karl Dent (tenor), Val Rideout (tenor), Ted Christopher (baritone), James Maddalena (baritone), Ernst Senff Choir, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Gerard Schwarz (cond.), (excerpts performed in English), Milken Archive/Naxos Records CD 8.559402[6]
[edit] References
- Notes
- ^ Leon Botstein, "Kings and Prophecies: A Road of Promise" on americansymphony.org
- ^ Review by Edith Eisler at Amazon.com
- ^ "The Eternal Road, In Endless Quest of a Stage" by John Rockwell, The New York Times (October 5, 2003)
- ^ Propheten at the Kurt Weill Foundation
- ^ Atkinson, Brooks, "The Play: 'The Eternal Road'". The New York Times, January 8, 1937
- ^ The Eternal Road, review of the recording by Steve Schwartz
- Sources
- Amadeus Almanac
- Der Weg der Verheißung (1934-36) at the Kurt Weill Foundation
- Alexander Ringer's "Werfel, Weill, and The Eternal Road" in Driven into Paradise: The Musical Migration from Nazi Germany to the United States ed. Brinkmann & Wolff (UC Press 1999)
- Rogoff, Gordon, "Endless Moan: The Eternal Road at the Brooklyn Academy of Music" in Theater, Volume 30, Number 3, Fall 2000, pp. 119–23, Duke University Press (subscription required)
[edit] External links
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