"'Dittersdorf's musical merits are universally known, his works having brought much enjoyment to the educated in all Europe and one hears them with the feeling of receiving a warm greeting from a well-known friend.' These words begin Dittersdorf's biography which appeared as an anonymous work from 1810 in Erturf entitled 'Gallerie der berühmtesten Tonküunstler des achtzehnten und neunzehnten Jahrhunderts' or 'Gallery of the most famous composers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries'. At this point in time the fame of the composer who had shone first as a violin virtuoso and then as the creator of more than 40 stage works, oratorios, over 120 symphonies and chambers pieces had faded.
"The life and works of this master of the 'Wiener Klassik' may be studied in this first complete recording of his most famous opera 'Doctor and Apothecary', the only work which, since its premiere in 1786, has kept the name Dittersdorf in circulation in the musical world. Although his less thorough critics might view him as a prototype of the prolific and unimpressive 'lesser light' at the side of Mozart and Haydn, Dittersdorf's comprehensible pieces over the more complicated works of both great composers who, for their own part, also respected him as a composer. In the years 1783-87 Haydn produced many of Dittersdorf's operas at the court of Esterház and Mozart didn't hesitate to premiere his Piano Concerto in E-flat major KV 482 as 'interlude music' between the two acts of Dittersdorf's oratorio 'Esther' on December 23, 1785. Both composers played string quartets with Dittersdorf and Bohemian composer Johann Baptist Vanhal in the following order: 1st violin - Haydn, 2nd violin - Dittersdorf, viola - Mozart, violoncello - Vanhal.
"Carl Ditters (as of 1773 Ditters von Dittersdorf) was born the son of a theatre employee originally from Danzig and employed at the k.u.k. court in Vienna on November 2, 1739. He began studying the violin at age seven and made such swift progress that he was taken to the court of the musically-inclined imperial officer Josef Maria Friedrich Wilhelm Prince von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. There the young Dittersdorf became a member of the Prince's orchestra - the oldest private orchestra among the Viennese nobility. Dittersdorf came to view the Prince as a second father and was duly instructed at the Prince's residence - also in violin by the Italian Trani and in composition under the Italian court music master Giuseppe Bonno. He showed considerable talent in composition as well and, after seeing a production of Pergolesi's 'La Serva Padrona' at his patrons residence, developed a life-long enthusiasm for musical theatre.
"Upon taking over the regency at Hildburghausen, the Prince dissolved his Vienna orchestra but also provided the musicians with positions elsewhere, Dittersdorf came as violinist to the Wiener Hofoper orchestra and there was able to expand his knowledge of opera literature. In 1763 he traveled to Bologna with Gluck for the premiere of Gluck's opera 'Il trionfo di Clelia' and was celebrated there as a virtuoso. Two years later he followed Michael Haydn in the post of conductor for the Bishop of Grosswardein in Hungary following a disagreement with the Hofoper director in Vienna over a raise in salary. Here Dittersdorf began a time of fruitful productivity. He enlarged and schooled the orchestra there (composed partially of amateur musicians - among them a confectioner by trade) and introduced the usage of the clarinet as well as the Viennese method of playing while seated - both of which Mozart had to do without in Salzburg - much to his chagrin. During this time Dittersdorf also emerged as a composer with early operas created for a small theater which he himself had begun, with cantatas, the world premiere of his staged oratorio 'Isacco figura del Redentore', as well as orchestral and chamber works.
"However the need to look for a new position came in 1769 when the Bishop dissolved the orchestra due to rumors concerning his 'worldly' lifestyle which were circulated by his enemies at the Viennese court. A short time later Dittersdorf became acquainted with the Bishop von Breslau, Count Schaffgotsch, who was at that time on unfriendly terms with Frederick the Great, and who, in turn, invited Dittersdorf to visit his estates in Johannisberg in Silesia. Originally intending to spend only the winter months of 1769-70, Dittersdorf ended in remaining and taking over the direction of the Count's orchestra of nine musicians. As a sign of gratitude the Count insured Dittersdorf's reception of the papal decoration of the golden spur, which the 14-year-old Mozart also received in the same year. Because the Bishop's finances wouldn't allow him to hire Dittersdorf as a conductor he had him named forestry master of the principality of Neisse and later of Freiwaldau, the reason for which he was made a member of the nobility in 1773 by Empress Maria Theresia - an event which Dittersdorf valued more than his successes as a composer.
"Despite the limited possibilities (his orchestra then numbered 17) - he was so satisfied with his work in the country that he turned down a call to the position of court conductor in Vienna as successor to Florian Leopold Gassmann. In Johannisberg in 1771 he married the Hungarian singer Nicolina Trink who had already appeared as prima donna in his operas a Grosswardein. Between 1770 and 1777 eleven Italian comic operas were composed, among them 'Il vaggiatore americano' and 'Il finto pazzo per amore'. During occasional visits in Vienna he produced his oratorios 'Esther' (1773) and 'Giobbe' or 'Job' (1785) which brought him much recognition as did the productions of his first six program symphonies on Ovid's Metamorphoses played at the Augarten in the spring of 1786 and in the theater. In his autobiography Dittersdorf describes his deep satisfaction at the success of those concerts and further writes:
"'I was about to pack my bags when the actor Stephani the Younger (also supervisor at the Deutsche Oper) visited me on behalf of the management, requesting the composition of a German opera for the usual fee of 100 ducats. I agreed; Mr. Stephani provided the text and in half a year 'Doctor and Apothecary' was being performed. Upon an additional request from the management I wrote two more German operas and one Italian opera - all within a seven-month period. My three German works 'Doktor und Apotheker', 'Betrug durch Aberglauben' and 'Liebe im Narrenhaus' went well; however the Italian opera 'Democrito' was not a success'
"'Before embarking on my return to Silesia in February, 1887, I went to thank the Emperor for his reward for my four operas and held a conversation with him similar to the last time, only that, in addition, he asked my opinion on the Italian operas I had heard in Vienna. I freely gave him my opinions both positive and negative. Whereupon he said, among other things, 'I imagine my musical knowledge to be quite good since my judgement always coincide with yours. When do you intend to leave?' I: 'Day after tomorrow.' Emperor (after having paced up and down thoughtfully): 'Couldn't you postpone your trip eight days?' I: 'If your majesty orders it.' Emperor: 'Good! Do that and - listen - this coming Saturday evening I will order a repeat performance of 'Doctor and Apothecary' and I think the local audience would be pleased to see you at the podium and in the program once again.' I: 'As your Majesty wishes.' Emperor: 'Then it's settled. I will also be there at the theater to see you once more. Farewell until then!' I prepared everything and my opera was performed. The following morning Mr. von Horvath, the head bookkeeper for all the theater box offices, appeared with a roll of 200 gold ducats from the Emperor - who was so kind as to present me with the entire income from my opera. At von Horbath's suggestion I immediately hurried to thank the Emperor before he went to Mass. He received me gladly, we conversed for more than half an hour and he complimented me on my serious and comic styles, ending with the words: 'Come to Vienna as often as you wish and your business allows and come to see me each time. I'll always be happy to receive you, especially since we are both of one mind concerning music.'
"The success of the first opera, 'Doctor and Apothecary', was much greater than one may read out of Dittersdorf's own reports. Its sensational premiere on July 11, 1786 was overshadowed by the likewise successful premiere of Mozart's opera 'Le nozze di Figaro' two months before on May 1st and thereafter the piece was practically dropped from the theater program. Nevertheless, Dittersdorf's high regard for Mozart as well as the problems he faced with the composer's music (as did most of Mozart's contemporaries) may be noted in a conversation between the composer and Emperor Joseph II which Dittersdorf records in his autobiography:
"'Emperor: 'What do you say to Mozart's composition? I: 'He is undoubtedly one of the greatest original geniuses and I've never known any composer to possess such a wealth of ideas. I wish he weren't so wasteful with them. He doesn't allow the listener time to breathe; then, as soon as one has begun to ponder a beautiful idea, there appears another wonderful one to take its place. This continues to such a degree that, at the end, one has not been able to commit even one of these ideas to memory.''
"The years from 1785 to 1790 made up the high point of Dittersdorf's career. In 1789 he travelled to Berlin where he composed six string quintets with two violincelli for the cello-playing Prussian king, Wilhelm II. His star then began to fade in '90's although he continued to be extremely productive - writing, for the most part, German 'Singspiele' or musical dramas. Upon the death of his employer, Dittersdorf was pensioned off with a wretched yearly sum of 300 talers - hardly enough to support himself and his family. At last, the once-celebrated and now nearly-forgotten composer, ill and plagued by gout, found a modest position with the Baron Ignaz von Stillfried at Schloss Rothlhotta in Bohemia where he composed a few more operas (for the theater in Oels, among others, 'The Merry Wives of Windsor') and dictated his life story to his son. Two days following the autobiography's completion Dittersdorf dired on October 24, 1799.
"This autobiography, in which at the end Dittersdorf pleads with society not to allow his family to starve, was published in 1801 in slightly edited form by the author Karl Spazier. It is one of the most revealing, amusing and unsettling documentations of the musical and cultural history of the 18th century as well as an excellent portrayal of a musician's life at this time with all its highs and lows.
"At the same time it has often been regretted that so little about the creation of Dittersdorf's pieces and their reception by the public may be learned from the book. Its wealth of (partially silly) anecdotes of various singers or the not always very meaningful conversations with important personalities does, however, speak for the composer's theatrical talents. That his 'Doctor and Apothecary', the first of his German operas written for Vienna, was a milestone in the history of this genre was first ascertained after the fact. The degree of family the piece enjoyed during Dittersdorf's lifetime may not be found in his autobiography but its success may be verified through other facts. After the Viennese world premiere in 1786 the 'Doctor and Apothecary' (the title in the piano score and text reads, 'The Doctor and the Apothecary' as apposed to the above-mentioned version which appears in the autobiography) appeared in Pressburg in the same year, in 1787 in Kassel, Hamburg, Berlin and Budapest, 1790 in Prague, Riga and Agram, 1792 in Amsterdam and 1793 in Warsaw. The text was translated into English, French, Danish, Swedish, Dutch, Hungarian and Russian before 1800. A piano score drawn up by Dittersdorf had already appeared in print in Vienna by Gottfried Friedrich in 1787.
"A reprint appeared a year later by Schott in Mainz containing all the arias and ensembles except both finales and the 2nd-act sextet. Separate editions of these were also offered. Arrangements of the most popular pieces for piano or string quartet were published as well as the Danish and English versions (the latter of which was quite distorted by numerous deletions and additions by the Mozart student Stephen Storace - a custom of that time). The English rendtion was played 36 consecutive times at the Drury Lane Theater in 1788. None of Mozart's operas enjoyed such wide-spread popularity before 1790.
"What were the reasons behind the fact that this particular piece helped propel Dittersdorf to such heights of popularity? Firstly, the text by Gottfried Stephani the Younger (1741-1800), actor and theater director in Vienna, must be mentioned. Stephani also wrote the libretti to Mozart's 'Die Entführung aus dem Serail' (1782) and 'Der Schauspieldirektor' (1786). For Dittersdorf's piece he used, as was common then, a foreign literary model - 'l'Apothecaire de Mercie' from the French by Count de N. - as it is written in the title. Stephani, a Prussian soldier from Breslau and stationed in Vienna, was certainly not a well-known author; however, a later description of him as 'the evil spirit of this theater period' is just as surely unjustified. Mozart, who had found in Stephani a librettist with whom he worked well, made a more competent judgement in a letter to his father from June 16, 1781: '[...] I believe and wish it as well that he will write an opera for me. Whether he has written his comedies alone or with help [...] he understands theater and his comedies are always well-received. - [...]' The linguistically somewhat abstruse but nevertheless very humorous text offered a musician such as Dittersdorf opportunity for varied structuring of arias and the creation of lively give-and-take of duets, ensembles and especially in the two intricately-developed act finales, despite long-winded dialogue and hair-raising, illogically-resolved dramaturgical complications.
"More important, however, to the pieces public success was Dittersdorf's music. It was his master touch in the creation of melodies which charmed his audiences - something that missed in Mozart's operas before his 'Magic Flute'. Dittersdorf was also, for the most part, successful in avoiding triviality in this genre and even wrote an essay a year before his death in letter form for the musical publication the Leipziger Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, including his maxims for composers of comic opera. 'As the serious composer (that is, the composer of serious opera themes) must interest his audience mainly through new ideas, I venture to say frankly that the author of the comic opera music secure interest through the offering of light, easily-understood and easily-repeated musical ideas. The truly talented composer will, of course, be able to please the educated listener, as well with these same ideas through instrumental accompaniment, variation and other devices.' The 'Doctor and Apothecary' provides three examples of this hypothesis: the duet Sichel/Gotthold, 'Wenn man will zu Mädchen gehen', the duet Rosalie/Leonore, 'Zwei Mädchen sassen manche Nacht' and Sichel's aria, 'Nur nicht lange sich besonnen'.
"Leonore's aria, 'Zufriedenheit gibt mehr als Kronen' best shows how the widely-educated Dittersdorf, highly familiarized with the opera literature of his time, not only used the typical song and rondo forms for the singspiel genre but also was able to incorporate the large, da capo aria borrowed from the opera seria with brilliant impact. At the time same time he succeeded in portraying folk melodies in a fresh and vibrant way, thus characterizing the various figures in the piece. Gotthold and Leonore, the 'serious' couple, articulate their lovelorn position in virtuosically ornamented or in more sentimentally presented arias whereas the buffo or comic pair, Rosalie and Sichel, are assigned the light, memorable melodies. The composer prepared a wide range of musical styles and expressive modes for the two title roles in the splendidly-characterized arias, 'Galenus und Hippocrates' (Stoessel) and, 'Ein Doktor ist bei meiner Ehr' (Krautmann) as well as in the furious, mentally-abusive 'Sie sind ein Scharlatan), ranging from the prattling parlando of the opera buffa to the parodistically-used dramatic gesure of the opera sria or of Gluck's type of 'Reformoper'. The orchestra also plays an important role here - brilliantly orchestrated in the form of tone-painting which is especially well-illustrated in a scene of the first-act finale where Sturmwals, in a severe state of drunkenness, falls asleep and begins to snore. Dittersdorf differentiates tonally through the inerchange of instrumentation (ranging from simple string orchestra to full use of winds and tympani in the overture and the second-act finale) and through the solo usage of the woodwinds. We may also find apt observations of Dittersdorf's skill in characterization in the afore-mentioned biography of 1810: 'What a wealth of comic, sharply definied characterizations may be found in 'Doctor and Apothecary'! Who is unable to see the satire of the ridiculous solemnity in the aria, 'Galenus und Hippocrates' and the empty gesturing and absurd self-praise of the doctor in 'Ein Doktor ist bei meiner Ehr! der Grösste Mann im Staate!'? How the grave song is ridiculed through the triplets and baroque agility of the violins. The doctor, like the market crier 'Knallerpraller', is laughed at by his audience as he praises himself his cures!'
"In 1914 Lothar Riedinger, the respected researcher of Dittersdorf's operas, formulated the makings of this particular opera's success which laster into the early 1800's and, in spite of a following period of disinterest, nevertheless remained an event in opera history. Riedinger is of the opinion that ,with his 'Doctor and Apothecary' (and subsequent works), Dittersdorf lent final reinforcement to the German comic opera form. He sought to combine the efforts of the singspiel composers (from Hiller's simpler work to the more developed opera buffa) with folk melodies and large-scale ensembles and finales. Richard Wagner commented very correctly - so Riedinger - that one could trace the many phases of the German opera's development through the performance of the 'Jagd', the 'Doktor und Apotheker', 'Zar und Zimmermann' and the 'Meistersinger'.
"The first complete recording of 'Doctor and Apothecary' is based on a piano score published in 1787 by the composer, found at the Österreichische Nationalbibliotek in Vienna, the 1778 republication of this score by Schott and the original text, offering, (with the exception of a few small cuts in the number 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11 in Act I and numbers 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12 and 13 in Act II), the opera in its full length with the original text to the songs. Here and there the spoken dialogues have been smoothed over and reworked. In preferring the original version over the less satisfactory adaptions from the 19th and 20th centuries (Wittmann, Hirschfeld, Kleinmichel, Burkard, Fischer-Gessner) this recording has succeeded in giving a proper and meaningful salute to a truly amusing, imaginative and well-rendered piece of music. Perhaps, upon hearing this opera, we may agree with the comments of one of Dittersdorf's contemporary critics when he wrote about the composer's operas in general in 1791:
"'Although the melodies are not always new or noble one is tempted to sing along. The arias are so brilliantly composed that one must applaud though the text may appear to need revision in places. Add the truly comedic vein of the composer and his outstanding accompaniments with their abundant usage of wind instruments, and one need not wonder at the popularity his operas have enjoyed.'" (Joachim Draheim. From the liner notes.)
Performers: Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie, James Lockhart, Harald Stamm, Waltraud Meier, Hildegard Uhrmacher, Donna Woodward, Wolfgang Schöne, Frieder Lang, Gerhard Unger, Martin Finke, Alois Perl, Thomas Pfeiffer
1.1. Ouvertüre
1.2. Akt I: 'O Wie Herrlich! O Wie Labend'
1.3. Akt I: 'Nun, Herr Hauptmann, Sie Haben Auch Manche Solche Nacht'
1.4. Akt I: 'Wie Kann Freude Noch In Meinem Herzen Wohnen?'
1.5. Akt I: 'Nein, Nein, Das Tut Nicht Mehr Gut'
1.6. Akt I: 'Fürs Erste Ist Zu Wissen'
1.7. Akt I: 'Das Weib Ist Mein Ruin'
1.8. Akt I: 'Wann Hörst Du Auf, Geliebte Qual'
1.9. Akt I: 'Wenn Man Will Zu Mädchen Gehen'
1.10. Akt I: 'Sie Wird Mich Doch Nicht Trügen?!'
1.11. Akt I: 'Holla! Holla! Aufgemacht!'
1.12. Akt I: 'Meine Neue Methode Erregt Aufsehen'
1.13. Akt I: 'Sind Gegen Mich Nur Stümper'
1.14. Akt I: 'Haben Sie Jemals Einen Größeren Narren Gesehen?'
1.15. Akt I: 'Der Wein, Der Wein, Der Wein Ist Ein Specificum'
1.16. Akt I: 'Zwei Mädchen Saßen Manche Nacht'
1.17. Akt I: 'Meinst Du Nicht Auch, Salchen'
1.18. Akt I: 'Verliebte Brauchen Keine Zeugen'
1.19. Akt I: 'Salchen, Hör Zu'
1.20. Akt I: 'Wer Wird Im Schiffbruch Sich Besinnen'
2.1. Akt II: 'Ein Doktor Ist Bei Meiner Ehr''
2.2. Akt II: 'Herr Doktor, Sie Sind Schon So Früh Unterwegs?'
2.3. Akt II: 'Vermaledeit Sei Die Methode!'
2.4. Akt II: 'Ein Unverschämter Kerl!'
2.5. Akt II: 'Viel Eher Soll Sie Gar Nicht Frei'n'
2.6. Akt II: 'Sichel. Seine Verkleidung Ist Vortrefflich'
2.7. Akt II: 'Wahre Liebe Läßt Zwar Hoffen'
2.8. Akt II: 'Alle Wetter, Das Dauert Eine Ewigkeit'
2.9. Akt II: 'Was Ist Das Für Ein Betragen?'
2.10. Akt II: 'Noch Sind Wir Nicht Über'm Berg'
2.11. Akt II: 'Zufriedenheit Gilt Mehr Als Kronen'
2.12. Akt II: 'Recht So, Mein Kind'
2.13. Akt II: 'So Verfährt Man Mit Soldaten?'
2.14. Akt II: 'Halt. Wo Wollt Ihr Hin?'
2.15. Akt II: 'MIt Dir, Du Esel, Geht Mein Spiel'
2.16. Akt II: 'Was? - Wo Sind Die Beiden Hin?'
2.17. Akt II: 'Nur Nicht Lange Sich Besonnen!'
2.18. Akt II: 'Ich Kann Nicht Mehr'
2.19. Akt II: 'Sie Sind Ein Scharlatan. Ein Ignorant'
2.20. Akt II: 'Nun, Liebste, So Weit Wären Wir Doch'
2.21. Akt II: 'Jedem Ist Sein Los Beschieden'
2.22. Akt II: 'Noch Seh Ich Ihn Nicht'
2.23. Akt II: 'Nie Werd' Ich Mich So Weit Vermessen'
2.24. Akt II: 'Seht Nur, Da Kommt Er'
2.25. Akt II: 'Ha! Potz, Pulver Und Kanonen!'
