- Date: 1847 -1849
- Composer: Robert Schumann
- Period: Romantic (1820-1869)
Review
Between 1847 and 1848, nearly ten years before the end of his life, Robert Schumann completed an opera for the first and only time, entitled Genoveva. Dramatic music, such as Manfred and Scenen aus Goethe's Faust, did, however, form the core of his output during the second half of his residence in Dresden. His goal in composing Genoveva, and his various operatic fragments, was to bring music to the level of literary culture. Furthermore, it has been presumed that the composer had wanted to link his own name with the likes of Goethe, Moore, Schiller, and Uhland. Disappointed by recent dramatic works of his fellow countrymen, he had made a "prayer from morning to evening" for several years, requesting the ability to compose a German opera of exceptional quality that would compete with those of Italy and France. His first considerations for the project were Immermann's Tristan und Isolde and Shakespeare's Tempest; however, he finally settled on the well-known legend of Geneviève de Brabant, with which Haydn had also worked. Familiar with two versions, one by Tieck, the other by Hebbel, the composer asked Robert Reinick to create a libretto after the latter version. When Hebbel declined participation in the project, the two versions were combined to create a new format. Working literally nonstop, Schumann completed the overture in a matter of days; the rest was completed by August 4, 1848, but not without strain, illness, and nervous exhaustion. On the process he commented, "What I heard inside my head took too much out of me."Genoveva's premiere was set for the spring of 1850 in Leipzig, but Meyerbeer's Le Prophète delayed rehearsals, leaving productions running a few months behind, and when Schumann arrived to conduct, he was quite ill. Regardless, the June 25th premiere generated great excitement and the members of the audience included Gade, Hauptmann, Hiller, Liszt, Meyerbeer, Moscheles, and Louis Spohr. In the plot, Genoveva is wrongly accused of adultery by the malicious Golo and several others, then is sentenced to death in her husband's absence, but is saved from the execution by his timely return. Although the first half went well, Clara Schumann explained that the last two acts went "less well." The overture and the love duet, "Wenn ich ein Vöglein wär," were favorably received, but to most, the rest was a disappointment. The singers and the composer were given only two bows, and the reviews were largely polemic and nonsubstantive. The opera is regarded by many as lacking in character delineation, dramatic imagination, and the elaborate vocal displays that were against the composer's musical morality. Schumann had felt that his work was misunderstood and underappreciated, leaving him little room to establish himself in this artistic medium. Regardless, he quickly made another attempt with Manfred (1848 - 1849). Even though Genoveva received only a few more revivals, it was recorded in full for the first time in October 1976 and its overture has not yet been forgotten. ~ Meredith Gailey, All Music Guide
