Der Prinz von Homburg

This is a piece that was performed at the Theater an der Wien. Our class was invited to see a dress rehearsal of it last week, and last night we saw the actual performance.

This is doubtless the most trippy opera I have seen. The music is a-tonal, so for most of the performance it sounds a bit like you're listening to a long and carefully crafted car wreck. The stage direction was odd and meant to throw you off. The costuming slowly modernized through the performance. They began in powdered wigs and elaborate dresses and coats and ended in clothing that would probably have been common in the 60s (when the opera was written). In my personal opinion, the blue argyle sweater was the real star of the show. The set was one room with a trap door above, a trap door below, and neon lights all around the edge. The lighting was harsh and there was a lot of work with shadows and contrast.

This will be lengthy, but here is a synopsis of this adaptation, if it matters. I'll put a few asterisks before and after, so you can skip it if you'd like. Keep in mind that the acts are arbitrary. This piece was somewhere around 100 minutes long, which operatically is rather short. There is no change of scenery beyond the opening of a door here or there, and the costume changes are little indication of an actual change in scene. The cast consists of about 20 people.

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Act 1.i The garden of a castle in Fehrbellin
The Prince von Homburg sits and holds a wreath which he plays with dreamily. The Elector's courtiers come to find him and think he may be ill. The Elector takes the wreath and wraps a gold medallion around it. The Prince then grabs at Princess Natalie and begins to sing of his feelings for her. She pulls away, leaving her glove in his hand. Heinrich (my favorite character!) then wakes the prince, who apparently has been sleeping in the garden. He still holds Natalie's glove. Was it a dream? Was it reality?

Act 1.ii A hall in the castle
Marshal Dörfling is detailing plans to his commanders for the upcoming battle. The Prince is ordered not to attack with his cavalry until he receives further instructions. The Prince is, however, too distracted by the glove in his hand and the presence of Natalie to pay any attention to the orders being given. Natalie all the while is searching for her lost glove. He drops the glove and Natalie sees that the Prince has had it. Is reality colliding with dream? Is this still a dream?

Act 1.iii The battlefield of Fehrbellin, the next day
While waiting for the battle to begin, the Prince tries to receive clarification from Heinrich on the battle plan. He is still too distracted by his love for Natalie to pay attention. As the battle begins, the Prince orders his cavalry to attack the retreating Swedes despite his orders or all the reasoning his men try to give him against such a move. The men rush out, the sounds of battle ar heard, and the soldiers return one or two at a time, some falling to their deaths. Natalie and her mother along with the courtiers enter the stage and ask for news of the battle. They are told of the victory, but hear rumors that the Elector (Natalie's father) is among the dead. The Electress loses her senses in her grief and Natalie attempts to comfort her. The Prince declares his love for Natalie and offers that she take comfort in him. The Elector then appears, unharmed, and demands that the man responsible for the premature attack be sentenced to death. The Prince yields his sword (a.k.a. throws it across the stage in what appears to be frustration/rage) and is arrested.

Act 2. iv Prison
Heinrich stays by the Prince. It is at this point that the slow modernization of the costuming begins. Heinrich goes to the sink with the light above it (the only object on the stage) and washes the heavy white makeup from his face. The Prince is found guilty and the Elector is about to sign the death warrant.

Act 2. v The Prison Yard/ Act 2. vi The Electress' room
The Prince sees his grave. He sings of his feelings for death.

The stage darkens and the neon lights around the edge come on, increasing in intensity. As the lights on stage come back up Natalie stands in the back corner and another woman stands at the back wall, both dressed in black. The woman approaches the Prince, who sees her and exclaims "Meine Mutter!" or "My mother!" He tells her of how he just wishes to wrap his arms around her knees as he did as a child. She denies him comfort and treats him coldly. He exclaims that it is only after seeing his grave that he realizes how much he wants to continue living. He wraps his arms around her knees knocking her to the ground. Meanwhile Natalie has gone to the sink and wetted a sponge, with which she begins to erase the instructions for the battle which have been written on the wall in chalk. The Prince approaches her, but she is only present physically at this point and seems incapable of real response.

Act 2. vii The Elector's Room/ Act 2. viii Prison
Natalie promises to speak with her father and get the Prince's sentence rescinded. She later returns with a letter that promises a pardon if he will state that the sentence pronounced upon him was unjust (i.e. that his commander, who is also Natalie's father, was incorrect). He refuses, despite pleading from Natalie and Heinrich that he sign the letter.

Act 3. ix The Elector's Room
The Elector is informed that Natalie and her "dragoons" intend to free the Prince. Other officers request that he be pardoned, and the Elector agrees to preserve his own honor. The Prince, however, refuses to be pardoned and insists that the sentence passed was fair and must be carried out. He is sent back to prison to await his death.

Act 3. x The Castle Garden
A funeral march begins for the Prince. Are we there at his execution? The Elector offers him the wreath from earlier in the play, still with the medallion wrapped around it. Natalie attempts to place it on his head, at which point the Prince dies. They exclaim that the joy of the moment has killed him and the crowd sings "Lebe Prinz von Homburg." He lives again. At this point I kind of lost track of what was happening and couldn't entirely translate things. He is once again left alone and suddenly falls to the ground as the stage goes dark and a trap door above him opens, being the only source of light. Is this his grave? Is he still asleep? There is no explanation given. The stage darkens. The end.

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The entire point of the opera is to disturb your sense of reality. Through the entire thing you are left wondering if this is at all reality. The music is confused, the actions are unclear, the costuming is unstable, and symbolically it all takes place in one small location even though the plot demands a much larger scale.

All in all, I would call this a new and interesting experience in modern Opera. It was not my favorite, and the music grated on my nerves. Seeing it twice helped a bit, as the second time I knew what I was going in for. I was less put off by the music and more able to focus on everything else. The fact that in two performances I went from "hated every second of it" to "am not very fond of it" is actually pretty impressive.