Georg Joseph VOGLER (1749-1814)
Gustaf Adolf och Ebba Brahe (1787)
Ebba Brahe – Laila Andersson (soprano)
Gustaf Adolf – Jonny Blanc (tenor)
Jacob de la Gardie – Hans Johansson (tenor)
Queen Christina – Margatera Hallin (soprano)
Märta Banér – Dorrit Kleimert (soprano)
Lars Sparre – Björn Asker (baritone)
Cathrina – Margareta Bergström (mezzo-soprano)
Johan – Arne Tyrén (bass)
Sigrid – Gunilla Slättegård (soprano)
Eric – Rolf Björling (tenor)
Maria – Busk Margit Jonsson (soprano)
Sven – Tord Slättegård (tenor)
Knight-in-arms – Kåge Jehrlander (tenor)
Courtier – Gunnar Lundberg (baritone)
Page – Gunnar Lundberg (baritone)
Royal Swedish Orchestra and Chorus/Charles Farncombe
rec. live, 7 June 1973, first modern revival, Drottningholm Palace Theatre, Stockholm
Sung in Swedish. Libretto and English translation enclosed
STERLING CDO1121/2-2 [73:42 + 52:36]
Georg Joseph Vogler, also known as Abbé Vogler, was a German composer, organist, teacher and theorist. He travelled widely as one the great organ virtuosos of his day and also designed organs in many courts and cities around Europe. Among his pupils can be mentioned Carl Maria von Weber. In 1786 he was appointed Kapellmeister in Stockholm by the King of Sweden, Gustavus III, who was an important mentor of the arts. Among his tasks was to compose one opera every year. He founded a music school and gave spectacular organ recitals. When the King was murdered in 1792 he left Sweden but returned several years later. Swedish music lovers know his name for one specific piece, the hymn Hosianna, which is one of the most performed Advent hymns. It was first heard in March 1796 as part of a Passion play.
Gustaf Adolf och Ebba Brahe was the first, and actually only, fruit of Vogler’s commission in Sweden. The year he arrived the opera Gustav Wasa by Johann Gottlieb Naumann had premiered and quickly became the Swedish national opera. Gustav Wasa was the king who in the early 16th century finally put Sweden on the map as an independent nation when he liberated the country from the Danish influences. Now the aim was to glorify the next Gustav on the Swedish throne, Gustav II Adolf, whose successes in the Thirty Year’s War paved the way to Sweden becoming a Great Power – even though the king himself fell in battle in 1632. If Gustav I and Gustav II were hailed, thought Gustav III, some of the glory would spill over to himself. He had himself written a play on the subject, which was successful, and that play was the basis for the national poet Johan Henrik Kellgren’s libretto to Gustaf Adolf och Ebba Brahe. Kellgren principally speaking versified the play which was in prose.
The basic story is built on historical facts. King Gustav II Adolf and the lady-in-waiting Ebba Brahe have been in love with each other since they were children. They are planning to get married, but Gustav Adolf’s mother, Queen Dowager Christina, goes against their wedding and manipulates Ebba to believe that the king has lost interest in her. The king is away in a war against Denmark and during his absence the Queen Dowager arranges a wedding for Ebba and Admiral Jacob De la Gardie who has just returned home after conquests in Russia and Poland. Ebba is unhappy about the marriage and shortly afterwards she receives a letter from the king that the Queen Dowager has hidden from her, which confirms that he still loves her. When Gustav Adolf belatedly arrives and learns about the marriage he is deeply disappointed and wants to take his own life. The people, however, convince him that it is his duty to continue to live and take care of his people like a father. He then shows his gratitude to Jacob De la Gardie for his successful warfare and appoints him Marshal. And the people hail him.
There are many side-plots but the story unfolds quickly and Vogler’s music is flexible and well-adjusted to the text. The recitatives are quick and often develop into arioso or arias. All the recitatives are accompanied by the orchestra. The chorus has a lot to do, mainly though with short comments to the dialogues, even though there are some independent chorus pieces. In act II a group of fishermen are satisfied that “the storm’s furious blasts, have quelled their anger” and in the last act the people hail their victorious king.
The overture consists of two pompous allegros framing an andantino with a beautiful clarinet solo. Some of the thematic material is derived from episodes in the opera proper, which lends a sense of unity to the composition. And there are plenty of opportunities for many of the large cast of singers to show off in solos. After the overture the Queen Dowager has a dramatic aria, where the old bag vents her spleen upon the king who dares defy her will. It is gloriously sung by the queen of sopranos for several decades at the Royal Opera, Margareta Hallin. Privately she was, and is, the most amiable of persons but in a role like this she could transform into a monster. Laila Andersson as Ebba Brahe is also terribly good. Her dramatic soliloquy that opens the third act is masterly in every respect. On the whole there is a number of excellent sopranos in action: Dorrit Kleimert’s Märta Banér, Gunilla Slättegård’s Sigrid and Busk Margit Jonsson’s Maria are all in top shape. Mezzo-soprano Margareta Bergström, the veteran in the company, is also splendid.
In the tenor department Jonny Blanc as Gustav Adolf is brilliant. His characteristic quick vibrato makes him immediately recognizable and it is a great asset to have this document of a great tenor who inexplicably was so under-recorded. Hans Johansson (later Dornbusch) as Jacob De la Gardie is also in fine fettle, just as Rolf Björling as Eric. I would also urge readers to lend an ear to Kåge Jehrlander in the role of a knight-in-arms, who has a memorable aria (CD 1 tr. 18). Jehrlander, (b. 1921) studied to music teacher and became member of a popular male quartet in the 1950s. He later studied opera singing in Vienna and made his stage debut in 1958, when he was in his late thirties. But he preserved his voice for many years, also after his retirement from the opera stage. Björn Asker as Lars Sparre, here quite early in his career, also had a long career. Here he is at his freshest. And we mustn’t forget the bass Arne Tyrén. His was a deep black basso profondo, but he was also an excellent singing-actor and his handling of the text is superb. He spits out the consonants with obvious relish – even though his tone is dry.
Charles Farncombe, who was chief conductor at the Drottningholm Court Theatre 1968 – 1979, leads the performance in excellent fashion. He never drags and the whole performance is vivid and alert. The sound is quite extraordinary considering the age, well defined and well balanced. In the bargain one gets two booklets, one with full libretto in Swedish and English, the other with synopsis, historical background and in-depth analyses of the music by legendary musicologist Martin Tegen, who passed away in April 2019, only a couple of weeks before his 100th birthday. In every respect this is a quality product, and besides the intrinsic musical and historical importance it is a great opportunity to renew the acquaintance with a considerable number of the greatest singers at the Royal Stockholm Opera from yesteryear.
Göran Forsling
