Rosamunde (Schweitzer)

Rosamunde is a singspiel in three acts by Anton Schweitzer to a German-language libretto by Christoph Martin Wieland, first performed on 20 January 1780 at the Nationaltheater Mannheim.^[1]^[2] The singspiel was revived by the 60th Schwetzingen Festival in 2012 in a production by Jens-Daniel Herzog.^[3]^[4]^[5]

References

^ Kongressbericht, International Musicological Society. Congress 1977. p. 249: "With Rosamunde, Wieland's theories were beginning to disintegrate under the press of an intractable subject and a court steeped in both French and Italian operatic traditions. In his Versuch Wieland had inveighed against spectacle (impracticable for the most part at Weimar in any case), yet included a generous measure when Mannheim offered him the opportunity. ... "
^ Thomas Bauman, North German Opera in the Age of Goethe (1985) ISBN 0521260272 p. 116: "When the Gotha Court Theater was formed in 1775, Schweitzer did not leave with Seyler but remained at Gotha as the music director of the new ... Most of his creative activities came in collaboration with the Weimar court, most notably a commission that Wieland and he provide a new serious opera along the lines of Alceste for the court at Mannheim, from which resulted their ill-starred Rosamunde."
^ Jonathan Schaake (25 May 2012). "Rosamunde in Schwetzingen – Lauter Rachearien". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 26 November 2023.
^ "(review)",^{[dead link‍]} Südwestrundfunk (in German) "C. M. Wielands und Anton Schweitzers Singspiel von 1779 misst ihr derart Gewicht zu, dass der im 12. Jahrhundert angesiedelte historische Hintergrund, die Geschichte Heinrich Plantagenets (späteren Heinrich II von England) und seiner Ehe mit der ehemaligen französischen Königin Eleonore von Aquitanien, als bloßes Dekor dient für eine Liebesleidtragödie, ausgelöst durch den Giftmordversuch Eleonores an der Geliebten ihres Mannes [Rosamund Clifford]."
^ "Opernausgrabung bei den Schwetzinger Festspielen: Rosamunde von Anton Schweitzer (Premiere: 20. 5. 2012), Der Neue Merker (in German)