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Braunfels Don Gil von den grünen Hosen
Concert performances 6 and 13 June 2007, Prinzregententheater, Munich

Reviewed by Michael Eagleton
posted 23 July 2007

Don Gil von den grünen Hosen (‘Don Gil of the Green Trousers’) was Walter Braunfels’ next opera after Die Vögel, the work which has spearheaded the revival of interest in this little-known composer. It was first performed in Munich in November 1924, conducted by Hans Knappertsbusch. The next year Braunfels moved north to it Cologne to become joint director of the Musikhochschule, in which position he remained until removed by the Nazis in 1933. Braunfels spent the war years in internal exile at Überlingen on Lake Constance, and was reinstated in his position in Cologne in 1945 through the offices of Konrad Adenauer. Although Don Gil had considerable early success, the concert performances given by the resources of the Gärtnerplatz company at the Prinzregententheater on 6 and 13 June were the first since the War.

The text is a free adaptation by the composer of the comedy of the same name by the Spanish dramatist Tirso de Molina, dating from (probably) 1635. Set in Madrid, the story revolves around one Dona Juana who is attempting to win back the favours of her unfaithful lover Don Manuel, but the process is continually undermined by a series of intrigues among a host of other characters, none of whom is actually named Don Gil. Eventually, no fewer than four hopeful lovers, all disguised wearing green trousers and all masquerading under the name Don Gil, are unmasked, and order is restored, with a little help from the servant classes.

Braunfels’ music for this buffa concoction is unashamedly tonal, deftly scored for a classical-sized orchestra, transparent in texture and with some Spanish touches including castanets and mandolin. Where the action demands, popular Spanish songs and dances make an appearance in parenthesis – one of several orchestral interludes, for example, uses a song already familiar in Edward Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnol. The Spanish flavour remains on the surface, though, unlike that of, say, Debussy. The most impressive quality of the music is the skill with which Braunfels builds the ensembles which characterise each scene, ensuring a dramatic continuity which is continually engaging and occasionally breathless.

David Stahl, Chief conductor of the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, conducted a thoroughly jovial sounding orchestra, with a cast almost entirely drawn from the regular ensemble. Donna Juana was Barbara Gilbert, her dramatic soprano perhaps a little too theatrical for this occasion, while Barbara Schmidt-Gaden’s smooth mezzo as Don Clara would have won over anyone but the obdurate Don Manuel, Wolfgang Schwaninger in heroic tenor mode. There was also a lovely character bass, Jörg Simon, as Don Pedro, a stock-in-trade recalcitrant father among several well etched minor characters.

It was evident from the smiling faces at curtain call that this was a superbly enjoyable undertaking for all concerned, and the audience was no less enthusiastic. A full staging will surely follow.

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