Das Liebesverbot

Das Liebesverbot (The Ban on Love) is an early opera by Richard Wagner in two acts, with the libretto written by the composer after Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. It was composed it 1834, and Wagner conducted the premiere in 1836 at Magdeburg. Poorly attended and with a lead singer who forgot the words and had to improvise, it was a resounding flop and its second performance had to be cancelled after a fist-fight between two cast members broke out backstage before the curtain had even risen. It was never performed again in Wagner's lifetime although it has occasionally been revived, most successfully in 1983 conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch.

A central theme in the work is a longing for unrestrained sexuality; this shows up again in Tannhäuser, Die Walküre, and Tristan und Isolde. In each opera, the self-abandonment to love brings the lovers into mortal combat with the surrounding social order. In Das Liebesverbot, because it is a comedy, the outcome is a happy one: unrestrained sexuality wins as the orgiastic carnival of the entire population goes rioting on after curtain-fall.

Wagner's second opera, and his first to be performed, has many signs of an early work: it is far too long and it is straightforwardly inspired by Beethoven and especially Carl Maria von Weber.

Characters

• Friedrich, the King's German Viceroy in Sicily (baritone)
• Luzio, a young nobleman (tenor)
• Claudio, a young nobleman (tenor)
• Antonio (tenor)
• Angelo (bass)
• Isabella, Claudio's sister (soprano)
• Mariana (soprano)
• Brighella, a captain of the watch (bass)
• Danieli, an innkeeper (baritone)
• Dorella (soprano)
• Pontio Pilato, a bawd (tenor)
• Nuns, Judges, Guards, Townspeople, Musicians

Plot

The opera takes place in sicily in the sixteenth century.

Act I

Much to the displeasure of the crowds, Brighella and his watch attempt to close down the bars and places of amusement proscribed by the new edict promulgated in the King's absence by Friedrich. This vetoes Carnival and all its accountrements and allows him to place anyone who contravenes it under arrest; even one 'taken in drunkenness or lechery' faces a death sentence. Danieli, the publican, is arrested, as is Claudio, a young grandee, and also Dorella who now works for Danieli but who used to be lady's maid to Isabella, Claudio's sister. Claudio - arrested for love, he says - in a solo of Weber-like cut prevails on his friend Luzio to find Isabella (who has been in a convent since the death of her parents) and beg her to intervene on his behalf with the Viceroy.

A convent. Isabella and Mariana, friends from girlhood, commune like sisters from Così re-set by Weber. Mariana reminds her friend that she has returned to the convent following Friedrich's repudiation of their secret marriage. Luzio comes to beg Isabella's assistance for Claudio, whose crime is to have seduced one Julia but who now intends to marry her. For the first time Isabella hears of Friedrich's law-giving and determines to help her brother. Luzio meanwhile is smitten with Isabella's charms and asks her to marry him, something she, in view of his reputation as a philanderer, resolutely refuses to contemplate.

A courtroom. Brighella in the absence of Friedrich sets up as judge (buffo song) and for running a brothel sentences Pontio Pilato to exile. One look and Brighella has fallen head over heels for Dorella; only the intervention of the crowd frustrates his advances, which appear by no means unwelcome. Friedrich's arrival puts paid to Brighella's brief period on the bench. A petition asking him to grant permission for the forthcoming Carnival is handed in but he tears it up unread.

Both Claudio and Julia are condemned to death for transgressing the new law, but Isabella comes to demand a private interview with the Viceroy. This he grants, and, after hearing her plea for mercy, loses little time in offering Claudio's life in return for a night with her. She yells for bystanders to witness his hypocrisy but he warns her the accusation will be laughed out of court and she appears to give in (ensemble). But all is not the plain sailing Friedrich imagines. Isabella has had the notion of sending Mariana to keep the assignation and thus expose Friedrich. Her apparent acceptance of his proposition brings Friedrich's agreement to free Claudio, but he declares publicly that he has no mind to go against the law. An ensemble of cross-purposes ends the act.

Act II

The prison. In music of some spirit, Isabella tells Claudio Friedrich's price. When Claudio's initial horror turns to pleas for her to make the sacrifice, Isabella is minded to punish what she sees as his selfishness and gives him no inkling of the Mariana plot. Dorella is given letters to Mariana and the Viceroy telling them the whereabouts - in Carnival costume - of the assignation. Luzio, reassured about Claudio's fate, turns his attention to Isabella and is mocked by Dorella, to his considerable discomfiture (trio). However, when he hears of Friedrich's dastardly plan, his fury is so real that Isabella is convinced of his sincerity. She will play a trick on him nonetheless.

Pontio has been promoted, if only temporarily, to the rank of jailer. Luzio rails at him for such a breach of faith, but Isabella knows that to get hold of Claudio's reprieve will cost her only a purse full of money.

Friedrich's palace. The Viceroy recognises that falling for Isabella has turned his well-ordered world upside down (aria). Dorella brings him Isabella's note and he succumbs to temptation, but determines to send Claudio to execution. The infatuated Brighella asks Dorella for a rendezvous, to which she agrees on condition he comes masked.

Palermo disregards the new laws and is celebrating Carnival. Luzio sings a carnival song and prevents a brawl by getting the roistering citizens to unmask. Brighella dons pierrot costume for his rendezvous with Dorella. Isabella and Mariana are identically masked and Mariana waits for her assignation with the unsuspecting Friedrich (aria). Before clairification confusion must become more confounded. Luzio recognizes the Viceroy and conducts him towards other maskers, railing the while at the injustice of the new laws. He spies on Friedrich's meeting with Mariana and naturally takes her, to his jealous fury, for Isabella. Dorella throws her arms roung his neck and will release him only at the price of a kiss, an action which infuriates both Brighella and Isabella who are watching. Luzio chases Friedrich and the putative Isabella, Dorella flees from Brighella, while Pontio Pilato gives the real Isabella Claudio's reprieve. She realizes the 'safe conduct' is a fraud and as a last resort denounced Friedrich to the roistering populace as an arrant hypocrit. The Viceroy is unmasked and accepts to be judged by his new law, then, in a turn-up for the book, is let off: Isabella and Luzio are reconciled, Brighella even finds Dorella, and a masked procession led by Friedrich and Mariana goes off to find the King, who has just returned to Sicily.

References

• Plot taken from The New Kobbes Opera Book (11th edition), 1997.
• The Tristan Chord, Bryan Magee, 2000.