Wagner Opera The Ban on Love
Synopsis and Cast List, Based on Shakespeare's Measure for Measure
Das Liebesverbot (The Ban on Love) is a 2-act comic opera. Composed by Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813 – February 13, 1883). He wrote the libretto himself, in German, based on the comedy play "Measure for Measure" by William Shakespeare. It was first performed in Magdeburg, Stadttheater on March 29, 1836.
Setting is in Palermo, 16th century. It has set numbers with accompanied recitative and spoken dialogue, and an Overture.
Main Characters of Wagner's The Ban on Love
- Isabella, novice nun (soprano)
- Friedrich, the governor (bass)
- Claudio, Isabella's brother (tenor)
- Luzio, Claudio's messenger (tenor)
- Mariana, Friedrich's wife (soprano)
- Antonio (tenor)
- Angelo (bass)
- Pontio Pilato (comic tenor)
- Dorella (soprano)
- Brighella (comic bass)
Plot Summary / Synopsis: The Ban on Love
Act I.
Scene 1. Outside Danieli's tavern in a suburb of Palermo
Friedrich is the puritanical governor of Palermo who doesn't believe in much entertainment and carnivals. He arrests the young man Claudio for flirting. Claudio asks his messenger Luzio to fetch for his sister, Isabella, and ask her to help him plead his case.
Scene 2. Cloister garden in the convent of St. Elizabeth
Isabella has become a novice nun, and so has Mariana, Friedrich's wife who he deserted upon rising to power.
Luzio falls in love with Isabella.
Scene 3. A courtroom in Palermo
Claudio is condemned and Isabella can't do anything to ehlp him. Friedrich agrees to pardon him if Isabella will sleep with him. At this point, she feel hopeless. She wants to help her brother at the same time powerless to disobey the governor.
Act II.
Scene 1. The prison garden
Isabella is terribly in despair. She also believes in Luzio's fidelity.
Scene 2. A room in Friedrich's palace
Isabella thinks of a plan and tells Friedrich to meet her at the carnival.
Scene 3. At the carnival
Isabella sends Mariana in her place. This angered Friedrich. Instead of releasing Claudio, he sends an order for his immediate execution. Isabella intercepts the order and exposes Friedrich's hypocrisy. Claudio is eventually pardoned and Isabella discontinues her pursuit to be a nun, and marries Luzio.
Other Operas by Richard Wagner
- Rienzi 1842
- Der fliegende Hollánder (The Flying Dutchman) 1843
- Tannhäuser 1845
- Lohengrin 1848
- Das Rheinhold 1854
- Die Walküre (The Valkyris) 1856
- Tristan und Isolde (Tristan and Isolde), music drama 1859
- Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg) 1867
- Siegfried 1871
- Götterdämmerung (The Twilight of the Gods), completes the operatic cycle der ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelungs) 1874
- Parsifal, music drama 1882
Sources:
The Da Capo Opera by Nicholas Ivor Martin, Da Capo Press (1997)
Dictionary of Composers and Their Music by Eric Gilder, Sphere Reference (1987)
Wagner Opera The Ban on Love
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