Weill, Kurt

Preface

Weill, Kurt – Der Zar lässt sich photographieren (full opera score with German libretto)

(b. Dessau, 2 March 1900 – d. New York, 3 April 1950)

Opera buffa with a libretto by Georg Kaiser

Preface
During the 1920s Weill wrote a series of one act operas: Zaubernacht (1922), Der Protagonist (1926), Royal Palace (1927), Mahagonny Songspiel (1927) – which was later expanded into the full length opera Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (1930) – and the one we are concerned with now, Der Zar lässt sich photographieren (1928). The libretto was by Georg Kaiser (1878-1945), who had made his name as an expressionist playwright in works such as Die Bürger von Calais (1914). He had already collaborated with Weill in Der Protagonist and was to do so again in Der Silbersee (1933), the last production by either of them in Germany before they had to emigrate. It is an example of Zeitoper, opera on a contemporary and topical subject, as opposed to the mythological or legendary themes popular before the war. Other composers who wrote Zeitoper included Schoenberg, Hindemith and Krenek and there are also examples by Richard Strauss and Stravinsky.

The action takes place in Paris in 1914, before the outbreak of the first World War. The Tsar of the title is not the historical Nicholas II, the actual Tsar at the time, but an invented character, a much younger man, and one who does not enjoy his exalted position but likes to pass incognito. The scene is a photographic studio where Angèle, her Assistant and the Boy learn that the Tsar is coming to be photographed. A male chorus introduces the action and comments from time to time. A gang of revolutionaries breaks in, minded to assassinate the Tsar by concealing a gun in the camera – a large studio one, as was used at that time. Angèle and her team are removed and tied up and the gang disguise themselves as the doubles of her team: the false Angèle, the false Assistant and the false Boy. When the Tsar arrives, he resists sitting in the chair for his photograph and is much more interested in the false Angèle. He wants a photograph of her, which she naturally resists, knowing that there is a gun in the camera. They are interrupted by a message that the police have discovered the plot and are on the way. This only makes the Tsar more ardent; he starts dancing with the false Angèle. The gang run out and the genuine team return, to the consternation of the Tsar. Angèle fires the shot without harming anyone. The police come in. Angèle changes the camera and takes the Tsar’s photograph. …

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