Opera on the Move in the Nordic Countries during the Long 19th ...

Rachel the Jewess in Copenhagen
Illustration 2. Detail from Rachel’s part in the Royal Theatre’s rehearsal material for
Jødinden. The Royal Library, Copenhagen.
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pretended to be so in order to get close to Rachel. At this, she exclaims,
shocked: “What have I heard?” (“Hvad har jeg hørt?”)
In the rehearsal material used in connection with the Danish performances
of Jødinden in the nineteenth century, it appears that the melodic line
sung by Rachel at this point – as in many similar passages – has been altered
slightly. The original’s c’’-c’’-c’’-a’’, in which the last syllable is sung on a
rather high note (a musical gesture somewhat reminiscent of Leonore’s
melodramatic disclosure “Ich bin sein Weib!” in the finale of Beethoven’s
Fidelio), has been crossed out and a few alternative versions suggested below.
The lowest version reads: a’-a’-a’-c’’. On the staff below, a final option
seems to have been decided upon: c’’-c’’-c’’-e’’ (to be read, no doubt, in the
soprano C clef of the upper staff, rather than the bass clef of the lower staff
on which it is actually notated; see Illustration 2).
While this material was used by several performers during the nineteenth
century and even at a performance as late as 1929, it seems possible
– even likely, I think – that these alternatives were notated by Henrik Rung
in 1842. According to Sophie Keller, Pauline Lichtenstein started her voice
lessons with Henrik Rung in 1840. At that point his judgement of her voice
was that it had been over-exerted: she had, apparently “sung on her talent”
(“sunget på talentet”), but lacked careful, systematic training (Keller
1918, 19). Recently returned from a stay in Italy and Paris during which he
had apparently picked up many modern ideas about voice training, 31 Henrik
31 In Rome Rung had been taught by Girolamo Ricci – according to Thrane one of
Rome’s best singing teachers at the time (Thrane 1901, 47). In Paris he avidly studied
the styles and performances of the famous singers at the Théâtre-Italien: Rubini,