{{short description|Comic opera by Albert Lortzing, 1851}} {{infobox opera | title = Die Opernprobe | type = ''Spieloper'' | composer = Albert Lortzing | librettist = Albert Lortzing | image = Lortzing2.jpg | image_upright = 0.9 | caption = Lortzing in 1845, drawing by Gustav Schlick | other_name = ''Die vornehmen Dilettanten'' | language = German | based_on = Play by Philippe Poisson, translated by Johann Friedrich Jünger | premiere_date = {{start date|1851|01|20|df=y}} | premiere_location = Oper Frankfurt }} '''''Die Opernprobe''''' (The opera rehearsal), also titled '''''Die vornehmen Dilettanten''''' (The distinguished dilettantes),<ref name="Robinson" /> is a comic opera (''Spieloper'') in one act by Albert Lortzing, to a libretto which he adapted from a play by Philippe Poisson which had been translated by {{ill|Johann Friedrich Jünger|de}}. The premiere was on 20 January 1851 at the Oper Frankfurt.
== History == Lortzing was a successful composer of ''Spielopern'', comic operas with spoken dialogue, from ''Zar und Zimmermann'' in 1837 to ''Der Waffenschmied'' in 1846. He composed ''Die Opernprobe'' in 1850 when he was director of the {{ill|Woltersdorff-Theater|de|lt=Neues Friedrich-Wilhelmstädtisches Theater}} in Berlin, which rarely played operas.<ref name="Robinson" /> For the libretto, he freely adapted a 1733 French play by Philippe Poisson, ''L'Impromptu de campagne'', which Johann Friedrich Jünger had translated to German in 1794,<ref name="Robinson" /> as ''Die Komödie aus dem Stegreif'' (The improvised comedy).<ref name="Griffel" /> Lortzing had appeared as a character in the play in Cologne in 1825.<ref name="Robinson" />
''Die Opernprobe'' premiered on 20 January 1851 at the Oper Frankfurt in a double-bill with Friedrich Kaiser's comedy ''Junker und Knecht''. The evening was a benefit performance for Samuel Friedrich Hassel who sang the role of The Count.<ref name="McDaniel" /> Lortzing, who had been suffering from ill-health and was under considerable stress in his position as the conductor at the newly opened Friedrich-Wilhelmstädtisches Theater in Berlin, was not involved in the preparations for the Frankfurt premiere, nor did he attend the opening night. On the evening of 20 January he had planned to attend a performance of ''The Barber of Seville'' at the Königliches Opernhaus in Berlin with his friend {{ill|Heinrich Otto Stotz|de}}. Instead, he returned home and went to bed early. He suffered a stroke during the night and died the next morning.<ref name="McDaniel" />
Unbeknownst to Lortzing, his last opera had a very successful premiere in Frankfurt and remained in the repertoire in Germany until after World War II. It was published by Bartholf Senff in Leipzig in 1899.<ref name="Robinson" />
== Roles == [[File:Therese Tietjens Litho.jpg|thumb|Therese Tietjens who sang the role of Louise in the premiere at the Oper Frankfurt]] {| class="wikitable" |+{{sronly|Roles, voice types, premiere cast}} !Role !Voice type<ref name="UE" /> !Premiere cast, 20 January 1851<ref name="McDaniel" /><ref name="Kruse" /> |- |The Count |bass |Samuel Friedrich Hassel |- |The Countess |mezzo-soprano |Frau Röhrig |- |Louise, ''their daughter'' |soprano |Therese Tietjens |- |Hannchen, ''Louise's maid servant'' |soprano |Karoline Denemy-Ney |- |Baron Reintal |bass |Robert Leser |- |Baron Adolph von Reintal, ''Baron Reintal's nephew'' |tenor |Friedrich Caspari |- |Johann, ''Baron Adolph von Reintal's servant'' |baritone |Carl Anton Meinhold |- |Martin , ''the Count's servant'' |bass |Herr Krug |- |Christoph, ''the Count's servant'' |bass |Herr Wimmer |- | colspan="3" |''Female and male servants '' |}
== Synopsis== The action is an opera rehearsal in a hall of a count's palace with a view towards the garden, in 1794. The amateur performers include the servants. Hannchen, a servant, is the conductor. The story includes a strange nobleman who had escaped an arranged marriage to a woman he did not know. He falls in love with Louise and in the end, after complications, finds out that she was the bride his uncle had planned for him.
== Recordings == ''Die Opernprobe'' was recorded in 1951, the 100th anniversary of the premiere, with singers including Helmut Krebs, Lisa Otto and the RIAS Kammerchor.<ref name="Robinson" /> A 1974 recording, with the choir and orchestra of the Bavarian State Opera conducted by Otmar Suitner, features Regina Marheineke, Nicolai Gedda, Klaus Hirte and Walter Berry, among others.<ref name="Griffel" />
== References == <references>
<ref name="Griffel">{{cite book | last = Griffel | first = Margaret Ross|author-link=Margaret Ross Griffel | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=H-xEDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA359 | chapter = ''Die Opernprobe, oder Die vornehmen Dilettanten'' | title = Operas in German: A Dictionary | publisher = Rowman & Littlefield | date = 2018 | isbn = 978-1-44-224797-0 | page = 359 }}</ref>
<ref name="Robinson">{{cite web | last = Robinson | first = Bradford | url = https://repertoire-explorer.musikmph.de/wp-content/uploads/vorworte_prefaces/63.html | title = Albert Lortzing – ''Die vornehmen Dilettanten oder Die Opernprobe'' | website = repertoire-explorer.musikmph.de | date = 2007 | access-date = 5 January 2020 }}</ref>
<ref name="UE">{{cite web | url = https://www.universaledition.com/gustav-albert-lortzing-442/works/die-opernprobe-2052 | title = Gustav Albert Lortzing: ''Die Opernprobe'' | website = Universal Edition | access-date = 5 January 2020 }}</ref>
<ref name="McDaniel">McDaniel, Jan L. (1990). [https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc503969/m2/1/high_res_d/1002779020-McDaniel.pdf ''Die Opernprobe by Albert Lortzing: A Critical Edition'']. Master's Thesis, University of North Texas. Retrieved 9 January 2020</ref>
<ref name="Kruse">{{ill|Georg Richard Kruse|de|lt=Kruse, Georg Richard}} (1899). [https://archive.org/stream/albertlortzing00krus#page/120 "''Die vornehmen Dilettanten, oder: Die Opernprobe''"]. ''Albert Lortzing'', pp. 120–121. Harmonie {{in lang|de}}</ref>
</references>
== External links == * {{DNB portal|300096461|TYP=Literature about}} * {{IMSLP|work=Die Opernprobe (Lortzing, Albert)|cname=''Die Opernprobe''}}
{{portal bar|Opera|Germany}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Opernprobe, Die}} Category:1851 operas Category:German-language operas Category:Operas by Albert Lortzing Category:Operas based on plays Category:Operas Lortzing Opernprobe Category:Operas about opera