Walter Braunfels
Galathea
Short instrumentation: 2 2 3 2 - 4 2 2 0 - timp, perc(3), hp, cel, str - stage: fl, ob (2), c.a, hr (4)
Duration: 50'
Text bearbeitet von: Walter Braunfels
Dichter der Textvorlage: Sylvia Baltus
Choir: SATB
Roles:
Galathea
coloratura soprano 3 Nymphen: high soprano
soprano
mezzo-soprano Der Cyklop
bass Acis
tenor 2 Waldfaune: baritone
bass 3 Fäunchen: tenor buffo
baritone buffo
bass buffo
Instrumentation details:
1st flute
2nd flute (+picc)
oboe
cor anglais
1st clarinet in A, B
2nd clarinet in A, B
bass clarinet in A, B
1st bassoon
2nd bassoon (+cbsn)
1st horn in F, E, Eflat
2nd horn in F, E, Eflat
3rd horn in F, E, Eflat
4th horn in F, E, Eflat
1st trumpet in C
2nd trumpet in C
1st trombone
2nd trombone
percussion(3)
timpani
harp
celesta
violin I
violin II
viola
violoncello
double bass
stage music: flute
1st oboe
2nd oboe
cor anglais
1st horn in E, F
2nd horn in E, F
3rd horn in E, F
4th horn in E, F
Braunfels - Galathea
Work introduction
Inspired by the fresco of the same name by Raphael at Villa Farnesina in Rome, Braunfels’ single-act Galathea of 75 minutes’ duration was composed at the end of the 1920s using a marionette play by Silvia Baltus.
Based entirely on a combination of dance and song, the opera has its foundations in the free adaptation of Ovid’s saga of the tellurian Cyclops Polyphemus, who is passionately in love with the divine nymph Galatea. However, she loves the handsome shepherd Acis and in Braunfels’ version she is able to escape with him – unlike in Ovid’s story.
On the occasion of its highly successful premiere in Cologne on 26 January 1930, Martin Friedmann wrote: “This partly idyllic and pastoral, partly bucolic backdrop is portrayed with unerring mastery and emotionally captured with wondrous subtlety.” And Alfred Einstein remarked in the Berliner Tageblatt, commenting on the Berlin performance: “The fable is only the reason for the music: a midsummer night’s dream in the ancient style, rapture, impulse, love in all shapes and sizes.”