Andromache is an opera in two acts with words and music by Herbert Windt. The opera is based on the play Andromache by Euripides, as well as Racine's Andromache, Virgil's Aeneid with background material based on The Iliad by Homer.
Background In an article published six months before the opera's premiere, Windt acknowledged that he had known the story of Andromache for many years. The appeal of writing an opera on the topic (his first) was based on "my idea of choosing events and characters that were as remote in time as possible, in order to be able to ascribe new contexts and new lives to these actions and characters that are well known in themselves, without changing or alienating the image that we have established too much.":...glaub ich, sie sogar ganz nach Willkür, natürlich immer im organischen Zusammenhang miteinander, verändern zu können, ohne die große, bekannte Linie, die in uns für ihre Innenwelt vorgezeichnet ist, zu zer stören und die handelnden Charaktere damit von vornherein ihrer Vertrautheit mit uns zu berauben.
Windt understood the challenge of making a modern audience relate to legendary characters: "In order to bring an old subject to life, to awaken it from its dusty Sleeping Beauty sleep to new life, one must fill it with new life. And that can only happen if one tries to bring this past, which is several thousand years old, and our present closer together and bring them towards one another.": Um nun einen alten Stoff lebendig zu machen, ihn aus seinem verstaubten Dornröschen-Schlaf zu neuem Lehen zu erwecken, muß man ihn eben mit neuem Lehen erfüllen. Und das kann nur geschehen, wenn man versucht, diese mehrere Jahrtausende alte Vergangenheit und unsere Gegenwart einander zu nähern und einander entgegenzubringen.
In seeing the connection between Skamander and current times, Windt wrote: "I certainly did not want to write a political play; but if such political events form the basis of a plot such as the present one, then naturally one cannot ignore its politics when adapting it without having brought it into some connection with our present.": Ich habe durchaus nicht ein politisches Stück schreiben wollen; wenn aber derartige politische Ereignisse einer Handlung wie der vorliegenden zugrunde liegen, dann kann man naturgemäß bei ihrer Abwandlung an ihrer Politik nicht vorbeigehen, ohne auch diese mit unserer Gegenwart in gewisse Beziehung gebracht zu haben.
Even before the Nazi Party came to power in 1933, they exerted an influence on German culture. The Militant League for German Culture sought to form a cohesive strategy for suppressing Jews from cultural life and amplifying those viewed as Aryan. As Windt had joined the Nazi Party in 1931, he was viewed as part of Nazi Germany's musical future.
Roles Pyrrhus - about 25 years old Andromache - is a little older than Pyrrhus; she is a full-blown beauty. Her costume .(and that of her entourage) differs significantly from that of the Greek women Hermione - about 20 years old with red hair. Ambitious, she deserts her cousin Orest to marry Pyrrhus, a marriage based on power, not love Orest - about 30 years old, brown hair. He bears the fate of the House of Atreus Theano - blonde, like Pyrrhus, age 17; she mirrors her brother's desires and wishes. Lamia - a little older than Hermione. She functions more as a confidant than as a servant. Phönix - in his late 50s with graying beard. He is always in uniform, aware of the dignity of his position. Skamander - a handsome dark-curled six-year-old boy. Place: Epirus, in front of the palace of Pyrrhus Time: After the Trojan War
RoleVoice typePremiere cast, 16 March 1932Conductor: Erich KleiberPyrrhus, king of Epirus, son of Achillstenor Theano, his sistersopranoElse FinkAndromache, Hector's widowmezzo-soprano Margarete KloseSkamander, Andromache's sonsilent roleKäte Lore SchenkHermione, daughter of Helena and MenelaussopranoMoje ForbachLamia, servant to HermionecontraltoElse RuziczkaOrest, son of Agamemnon, cousin of HermionebaritoneHerbert JanssenPhönix, captain of Pyrrhus's palace bassWalter BeckServant of HermionetenorMarcel NoëTrojan women, soldiers of PyrrhusChoral directorAlexander CurthStage director Set design Emil Preetorius
Synopsis Act 1. In front of Pyrrhus’s palace, the chorus of captured Trojan women lament their lost homeland and their captivity. Pyrrhus steps out, accompanied by Andromache, his slave. She is in a rage, espousing her hatred for Pyrrhus. She also suspects that Pyrrhus is in danger, and knows he’s guarding a secret in the castle. She also knows that Hermione is partly behind this secret. Prophetically she sees that through Pyrrhus’s will Hector, Skamander and Troy be avenged. Pyrrhus is shaken by Andromache’s outburst, but he is certain that fate has brought him together with her: if he must die, it should be with her. Andromache vehemently rejects him. Her hate and that of the Trojan women grows more intense as she recounts that Pyrrhus smashed Skamander’s skull against the walls of Troy. Her growing hate increases Pyrrhus’s desire for her. Ready to take the last resort, she draws a dagger in an attempt to kill herself.
The servants restrain her and Pyrrhus reveals that Skamander is alive. He has his sister Theano bring the boy. Andromache embraces her son Skamander, but then breaks down, wondering why her son must live as a slave in a foreign land. Pyrrhus responds that Andromache can have Skamander’s upbringing totally in her hands. But Andromache lives in the past: She orders her followers to go to Hector’s tomb. Only at the memorial to her husband will they find peace.
Hermione appears and mocks Andromache, since she wants to be the queen. Taking up a whip, the Trojan woman cringe as Hermione declares that fate has decreed that she, Hermione, should be the queen, and that all of Greece support her. Pyrrhus responds that she is only following orders from the Greek princes and cares nothing for him.
At that moment trumpets are heard, heralding the arrival of the Greeks. Pyrrhus orders preparations for a reception to receive them. Once he has left, Hermione breaks down and pleads for help and advice from Lamia, her confidant. Lamia advises her to return home and reminds her of her beloved cousin Orest. But Hermione refuses to return since she betrayed Orest and can not return home as a beggar. Her pride urges her to fight on.
More trumpet blasts accompany Phönix, captain of Pyrrhus’s palace, who escorts the Greek guests. Hermione is shocked to see Orest as head of the Greek visitors. She realizes that her wish has come true: Orest has come to fetch her, and she wants to follow him back to Greece. But Orest reveals he came for a very different purpose: To force Hermione’s marriage to Pyrrhus and to kill Skamander as was demanded by Greek politics. He follows his companions into the palace.
Act 2. Hermione waits outside the palace with her confidant Lamia. Lamia urges her to flee before it is too late, but Hermione refuses. Lamia says that Hermione should go to Pyrhhus and let him determine her fate, a suggestion also refused by Hermione who, as a member of the House of Atreus, refuses to give up her power.
Phönix, the palace guard exits the palace and Hermione asks him what was Pyrrhus’s decision. The guard says that Pyrrhus has offered the crown to the Trojan woman, Andromache. Insulted, Hermione approaches Orest (who is also leaving the palace with his entourage), begging him to fulfil his mission by killing Andromache, Skamander, and Pyrrhus. Half-mad, she believes she’s no longer speaking to Orest but to Lamia, and allows herself to be taken away.
Pyrrhus again asks Andromache to consider his proposal, if only for the sake of Skamander. Andromache asks Orest if its true that his mission is to kill her son, and he somberly replies yes. Pyrrhus and his warriors declare they will guarantee’s Skamander’s life if Andromache voluntarily submits to Pyrrhus in love, not a slave but as a princess. The opera ends with Andromache declaring that Ilion is defeated.
Music Writing in 1931, Windt felt his score should enable a wide range of possible mediums: "For me it is self-evident that the greatest possible unity must exist between book and score, if the two are not to run parallel to one another. I therefore had in mind wide and rich possibilities of contrast in keeping with the style of the book and in this respect I pulled out all the stops that were available to me; from the more intimate chamber music style to the pathetic and pompous style of the "big orchestra."
With regards to being modernistic, Windt wrote: "I will never be one of those innovators who want to be "modern" at any price; on the other hand, I am not reactionary enough to underestimate the extensions brought about by modernity and not to use them where I consider them appropriate and justified."
Reception Although the opera received mixed and negative reviews, a number of critics recognized Windt's talent.