The meaning of William Tell in a literary encyclopedia. William Tell. Legend. The real story of who knocked an apple off his son's head

WILHELM TELL

(German Wilhelm Tell) - the hero of the drama by F. Schiller "William Tell" (1804). When creating the image of V.T. the author used the Swiss saga of a skilled archer. With V.T. the legend about the liberation of the Swiss cantons from the Austrian oppression is connected. To the image of V.T. poets and playwrights addressed not only in Germany, interest in this legendary character especially increased during the years of the French Revolution. V.T. in the initial episodes of the drama - a man of a complaisant and peaceful disposition, he is sympathetic, willingly helps people in need, lives alone with his wife and son Walter. A successful chamois hunter, well-aimed shooter and skilled rower, V.T. does not intend to enter into conflict with anyone. However, honor does not allow him to put up with the humiliation of dignity. Hatred for the imperial governor Gesler and a thirst for revenge awaken in V.T. after he was subjected to an inhuman test: because he did not give due honors to the ducal hat hung on a pole, Gesler forces V.T. confirm the glory of the most accurate shooter and shoot down an apple on his son's head with an arrow. The shot is successful: the son is alive, but the apple has fallen. Meanwhile, Gesler, fearing revenge, sends V.T. into a dungeon, from which the hero manages to escape. V.T. decides to kill the governor with an arrow from a bow. Watching for Gesler in a mountain gorge, V.T. sends his arrow into the heart of the offender. The death of Gesler raises the people to an uprising for the freedom of Switzerland. The image of V.T. caused controversy in Germany; many believed that the image of V.T. incompatible with humanism. The controversy was started by a supporter of the Young Germany group, Ludwig Berne. F. Mering, who defended the right of V.T. for retribution. Schiller's drama is rarely staged in German theaters. The performance staged by L. Iessner in 1919 stands out, in which the role of V.T. played by Albert Basserman. The production sounded like the apotheosis of the revolution, which was relevant in the situation of the first years of existence. establishment of the Weimar Republic. The first performer of the role of V.T. on the Russian stage was V.A. Karatygin (1830). D. Rossini's opera "William Tell" (1829) was written on the plot of Schiller. G.V. Makarova (lit. heroes)

Literary encyclopedia. 2012

The Tale of William Tell

The history of William Tell was first described in the twilight of the second part of the White Book of Zarnen chronicle by Hans Schrieber, a scribe from Obwalden, in the second half of the 15th century. Cruel governor (vogt) of the German emperor in Switzerland Albrecht (or Hermann) Gessler hung the hat of the Austrian duke on a pole on the square of the city of Altdorf and gave the order that everyone passing by bowed to the hat. The young peasant Tell, known as an excellent marksman, did not comply with this order, and Gessler, as punishment, forced him to shoot from a crossbow at an apple placed on the head of the shooter's son. Tell successfully completed the task, but then he admitted that if he had hit his son, he would have killed Gessler with another arrow. According to another version, in case of failure, Tell would have killed himself with a second arrow. He was sent to prison, but he escaped to the mountains. Ambushed Gessler on the road between the rocks and killed him with an arrow. Chronologically, this event is dated to 1307.

Legendary arrows from other nations

Slavic world the legend of a skilled shooter like Tell is not alien. In the Bulgarian legend, the hero bears the name of the main hero of the modern Greek heroic epic Digenis. Serbian legends were included in the song about the marriage of Dušan and the song about the marriage of Turc Smederevc. In Ukraine, the legend entered the Khanenkov family history: Danilo Khanenko shot down the headdress of a beautiful Cossack woman with a bullet and married her.

Legend or history?

The tales of a skilled shooter seem to contain some mythological features, which gave rise to German scientists, especially Ernst-Ludwig Rochholtz (German. Ernst Ludwig Rochholz), to look for their main source in mythology - in other words, to see in them one of the countless allegorical expressions of the struggle between winter and summer with the final victory of the latter. Rochholtz chose the words of the 14th-century writer Conrad von Amenhausen (Ger. Konrad von Ammenhausen): "I will tell you good fairy tale how we drove the winter away" (German. ich will dir goute maere sagen, hin sont wir den winter jagen). As mythological features indicate the extraordinary accuracy of shooting, the apple - as a symbol of the sun, arrows - as the usual symbol of the sun's rays and lightning. At the same time, such parallels are given as Hindu legends about the skillful shooting of Indra, striking Vritra, Greek legends about destructive arrows

For a long time it was considered a historical figure. The authenticity of the Tell legend is now disputed.

The Tale of William Tell

The history of William Tell was first described in the twilight of the second part of the White Book of Sarnen by the scribe Hans Schrieber from Obwalden in the second half of the 15th century. Cruel governor (vogt) of the German emperor in Switzerland Albrecht (or Hermann) Gessler hung the hat of the Austrian duke on a pole on the square of the city of Altdorf and gave the order that everyone passing by bowed to the hat. The young peasant Tell, known as an excellent marksman, did not comply with this order, and Gessler, as punishment, forced him to shoot from a crossbow at an apple placed on the head of the shooter's son. Tell successfully completed the task, but then he admitted that if he had hit his son, he would have killed Gessler with another arrow. According to another version, in case of failure, Tell would have killed himself with a second arrow. He was sent to prison, but he escaped to the mountains. Ambushed Gessler on the road between the rocks and killed him with an arrow. Chronologically, this event is dated to the city of

Legendary arrows from other nations

The Slavic world is not alien to the legend of a skilled shooter like Tell. In the Bulgarian legend, the hero bears the name of the main hero of the modern Greek heroic epic Digenis. Serbian legends were included in the song about the marriage of Dušan (in Vuk Karadzic, vol. II, ed., pp. 132-154) and in the song about the marriage of Turc Smederevc (ib. -). In Ukraine, the legend entered the Khanenkov family history: Danilo Khanenko shot down the headdress of a beautiful Cossack woman with a bullet and married her.

Legend or history?

The tales of the skilful shooter seem to contain some mythological features, which gave rise to German scholars, especially Ernst-Ludwig Rochholtz, to look for their main source in mythology - in other words, to see in them one of the countless allegorical expressions of struggle winter with summer with the final victory of the latter. Rochholtz chose as an epigraph to the first chapter of his study of William Tell, entitled "Die Naturmythe und die historisch gewordene Sage", the words of a 14th-century writer Konrad von Amenhausen: “ich will dir goute maere sagen, hin sont wir den winter jagen”, that is, “I will tell you a good story about how we drove the winter away.” As mythological features indicate the extraordinary accuracy of shooting, the apple - as a symbol of the sun, arrows - as the usual symbol of the sun's rays and lightning. At the same time, such parallels are given as Hindu legends about the skillful shooting of Indra, striking Vritra, Greek legends about the destructive arrows of Apollo, Scandinavian legends about the solar gods armed with arrows Ulla, Hoenir, Heimdalla. The Serbian song about Dušan's marriage speaks in favor of the mythological nature of the plot, where the hero Milos Vojnovic appears in the portrayal of a solar hero. When he drove up to the beautiful Roksanda, threw off his cloak from his shoulder, then “cloth and velvet shone; the shell (or silver plates) on the chest and the gilded buckles on the boots shone; Milos shone in the green field, as bright sun in the sky, and he went on the green grass, scattered on it rings and rings, small beads and precious stones.

In literature and ideology

Most famous work about William Tell was the drama of the same name by Schiller and the opera by Rossini based on it. Although Schiller emphasizes the conservative aspects of the legend - the Swiss are fighting for indigenous customs and rights, his play was perceived as a glorification of the struggle for national independence and tyrannicide. It was banned in the Third Reich. [ ] William Tell is mentioned by Alphonse Daudet in Tartarin of Tarascon, in Russian literature by A. N. Radishchev and Vlas Doroshevich. Max Frisch in his book William Tell for the School (1971) created an anti-legend by making not Tell, but the Habsburg governor Gessler, a positive character. The latter, according to Frisch, strove for a compromise and did not want to aggravate relations with his subjects, and the Swiss hero was a gloomy, limited highlander who was afraid of change and treacherously killed the Vogt.

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Notes

An excerpt characterizing William Tell

Half an hour later, in the hall, among the other mummers, another old lady in tanks appeared - it was Nikolai. The Turkish woman was Petya. Payas - it was Dimmler, the hussar - Natasha and the Circassian - Sonya, with a painted cork mustache and eyebrows.
After condescending surprise, misrecognition and praise from those who were not dressed up, the young people found that the costumes were so good that they had to be shown to someone else.
Nikolay, who wanted to give everyone a ride on his troika along an excellent road, suggested that, taking ten dressed-up people from the yard with him, go to his uncle.
- No, why are you upsetting him, the old man! - said the countess, - and there is nowhere to turn around with him. To go, so to the Melyukovs.
Melyukova was a widow with children of various ages, also with governesses and tutors, who lived four miles from the Rostovs.
“Here, ma chere, clever,” said the old count, who had begun to stir. “Now let me dress up and go with you.” I'll stir up Pasheta.
But the countess did not agree to let the count go: his leg hurt all these days. It was decided that Ilya Andreevich was not allowed to go, and that if Luiza Ivanovna (m me Schoss) went, the young ladies could go to Melyukova's. Sonya, always timid and shy, began to beg Louisa Ivanovna more insistently than anyone else not to refuse them.
Sonya's outfit was the best. Her mustache and eyebrows were unusually suited to her. Everyone told her that she was very good, and she was in a lively and energetic mood unusual for her. Some kind of inner voice told her that now or never her fate would be decided, and in her man's dress she seemed like a completely different person. Luiza Ivanovna agreed, and half an hour later four troikas with bells and bells, screeching and whistling in the frosty snow, drove up to the porch.
Natasha was the first to give the tone of Christmas merriment, and this merriment, reflected from one to another, grew more and more intensified and reached its highest degree at the time when everyone went out into the cold, and talking, calling to each other, laughing and shouting, sat down in the sleigh.
Two troikas were accelerating, the third troika of the old count with an Oryol trotter in the bud; Nikolai's fourth own, with its low, black, shaggy root. Nikolay, in his old woman's attire, on which he put on a hussar, belted cloak, stood in the middle of his sleigh, picking up the reins.
It was so bright that he could see plaques gleaming in the moonlight and the eyes of the horses looking frightened at the riders rustling under the dark canopy of the entrance.
Natasha, Sonya, m me Schoss and two girls sat in Nikolai's sleigh. In the old count's sleigh sat Dimmler with his wife and Petya; dressed up courtyards sat in the rest.
- Go ahead, Zakhar! - Nikolai shouted to his father's coachman in order to have an opportunity to overtake him on the road.
The troika of the old count, in which Dimmler and other mummers sat, screeching with runners, as if freezing to the snow, and rattling with a thick bell, moved forward. The trailers clung to the shafts and bogged down, turning the strong and shiny snow like sugar.
Nikolai set off for the first three; the others rustled and squealed from behind. At first they rode at a small trot along a narrow road. While we were driving past the garden, the shadows from the bare trees often lay across the road and hid the bright light of the moon, but as soon as we drove beyond the fence, a diamond-shiny, with a bluish sheen, a snowy plain, all doused with moonlight and motionless, opened up on all sides. Once, once, pushed a bump in the front sleigh; the next sleigh and the following jogged in the same way, and, boldly breaking the chained silence, the sleigh began to stretch out one after the other.
- A hare's footprint, a lot of footprints! - Natasha's voice sounded in the frosty constrained air.
– As you can see, Nicolas! Sonya's voice said. - Nikolai looked back at Sonya and bent down to get a closer look at her face. Some kind of completely new, sweet face, with black eyebrows and mustaches, in the moonlight, close and far, peeped out of the sables.
"It used to be Sonya," Nikolai thought. He looked closer at her and smiled.
What are you, Nicholas?
“Nothing,” he said, and turned back to the horses.
Having ridden out onto the main road, greased with runners and all riddled with traces of thorns, visible in the light of the moon, the horses themselves began to tighten the reins and add speed. The left harness, bending its head, twitched its traces with jumps. Root swayed, moving his ears, as if asking: “Is it too early to start?” - Ahead, already far separated and ringing a receding thick bell, Zakhar's black troika was clearly visible on the white snow. Shouting and laughter and the voices of the dressed up were heard from his sleigh.
“Well, you, dear ones,” shouted Nikolai, tugging on the reins on one side and withdrawing his hand with a whip. And only by the wind, which seemed to have intensified against them, and by the twitching of the tie-downs, which were tightening and increasing their speed, it was noticeable how fast the troika flew. Nicholas looked back. With a shout and a squeal, waving their whips and forcing the natives to gallop, other troikas kept up. Root steadfastly swayed under the arc, not thinking of knocking down and promising to give more and more when needed.
Nikolai caught up with the top three. They drove off some mountain, drove onto a widely rutted road through a meadow near a river.
"Where are we going?" thought Nicholas. - “It should be on a slanting meadow. But no, it's something new that I've never seen before. This is not a slanting meadow and not Demkina Gora, but God knows what it is! This is something new and magical. Well, whatever it is!” And he, shouting at the horses, began to go around the first three.
Zakhar restrained his horses and turned his already frosted face up to the eyebrows.
Nicholas let his horses go; Zakhar, stretching his hands forward, smacked his lips and let his people go.
“Well, hold on, sir,” he said. - The troikas flew even faster nearby, and the legs of the galloping horses quickly changed. Nicholas began to take forward. Zakhar, without changing the position of his outstretched arms, raised one hand with the reins.
“You’re lying, master,” he shouted to Nikolai. Nikolai put all the horses into a gallop and overtook Zakhar. The horses covered the faces of the riders with fine, dry snow, next to them there was a sound of frequent enumerations and the fast-moving legs were confused, and the shadows of the overtaken troika. The whistle of skids in the snow and women's screams were heard from different directions.
Stopping the horses again, Nikolai looked around him. All around was the same magical plain soaked through with moonlight with stars scattered over it.
“Zakhar shouts for me to take the left; why to the left? Nikolay thought. Are we going to the Melyukovs, is this Melyukovka? We God knows where we are going, and God knows what is happening to us – and what is happening to us is very strange and good.” He looked back at the sleigh.
“Look, he has both a mustache and eyelashes, everything is white,” said one of the sitting strange, pretty and strange people with thin mustaches and eyebrows.
“This one, it seems, was Natasha,” Nikolai thought, and this one is m me Schoss; or maybe not, but this is a Circassian with a mustache, I don’t know who, but I love her.
- Aren't you cold? - he asked. They didn't answer and laughed. Dimmler was shouting something from the rear sleigh, probably funny, but it was impossible to hear what he was shouting.
“Yes, yes,” answered the voices, laughing.
- However, here is some kind of magical forest with iridescent black shadows and sparkles of diamonds and with some kind of enfilade of marble steps, and some sort of silver roofs of magical buildings, and the piercing screech of some kind of animals. “And if this is indeed Melyukovka, then it is even stranger that we drove God knows where, and arrived at Melyukovka,” thought Nikolai.
Indeed, it was Melyukovka, and girls and lackeys with candles and joyful faces ran out to the entrance.
- Who it? - they asked from the entrance.
“The counts are dressed up, I can see by the horses,” the voices answered.

Pelageya Danilovna Melyukova, a broad, energetic woman, in glasses and a swinging bonnet, sat in the living room, surrounded by her daughters, whom she tried not to let get bored. They quietly poured wax and looked at the shadows of the coming out figures, when steps and voices of visitors rustled in the front.
Hussars, ladies, witches, payas, bears, clearing their throats and wiping their frost-covered faces in the hall, entered the hall, where candles were hurriedly lit. Clown - Dimmler with the mistress - Nikolai opened the dance. Surrounded by screaming children, mummers, covering their faces and changing their voices, bowed to the hostess and moved around the room.

The Tale of William Tell

The famous Swiss tale of William Tell consists of the following motifs:

Legendary arrows from other nations

In the songs and tales of the Germanic peoples, the motif of a skilled shooter plays an important role. Already in the song of the Edda Volundarkvidha, dated to the VI century. , then in the Vilkina-saga and Niflunga-saga a legend about a skillful shooter appears Eigile. At the request of the Swedish king Nidung (that is, envious), Eigil shoots down an apple placed on the head of his three-year-old son with an arrow, and tells the king that two other arrows would pierce him if the baby (Orvandil - Pfeilwinder, Pfeilarbeiter) was killed. It is believed that the Eigil saga originated in northern Germany, penetrated the Scandinavian peninsula, and from there returned to Germany in Scandinavian processing.

The tale of the skilful shooter occurs repeatedly in Norwegian history. So, Olaf II the Holy (d.) compels the brave warrior Eindridi to such dangerous shooting. King Harald III (d.) forces the hero Geming to shoot a nut placed on his brother's head. In the Faros Islands, a story is recorded about how Geyti, the son of Aslak, at the request of the king, knocked a hazelnut from his brother's head with an arrow. The legend of a skilled shooter is found in the Danish writer of the 12th century. Saxo Grammar (d.) in the tenth book of his "Historia Danica" in this form: from King Harald Blue-toothed, who lived in the X century. , was in the service of a skilled shooter Toki. He boasted in a drunken state that he would shoot down the smallest apple at the top of the pole with an arrow. The cruel Harald ordered to put the little son of Toki instead of the pole. Toki took three arrows from his quiver; with one arrow he knocked down an apple on his son's head, and he intended the other two in case his son was killed, for Harald, as he himself later admitted. Toki, like Tell, fled from persecution and subsequently killed Harald with an arrow during the battle between Harald and his son who rebelled against him. As in Switzerland, Gesler, so in Denmark, Harald arouses popular indignation with his cruelties and falls at the hands of a dexterous shooter.

On a par with Germanic and Scandinavian legends about a skilled shooter, one can put Finnish ones. The memory of the national hero, distinguished by marksmanship, in Estonia and Finland is timed to coincide with many local names, and this hero bears the name of Tell or Tolya. Ests, Karelians and Finns point to Tell's stone, Tell's tomb, the ruins of his castle. Finnish legends can be made dependent on Scandinavian ones; but then there are other foreign tales of this kind, the origin of which seems mysterious.

There are a number of legends about a skilled shooter among the peoples inhabiting Hungary, Bukovina and Transylvania. A legend of the same type with the story of Tell is found in Mantik at tair'e (Language of Birds) by a Persian writer of the first half of the 12th century. Ferid-Eddin-Attara. Here the king shoots an apple off the head of his favorite page with an arrow, who died of fear, although the arrow did not hit him. This option may include ancient legend about Cambyses, narrated by Herodotus: Cambyses shoots the son of his courtier Prexaspes and strikes him in the heart. Even more interesting is the classic tale of the Cretan Alcops, who knocked his snake off his son's head without hitting his son.

Legend or history?

The tales of the skilled shooter seem to contain some mythological features, which gave German scientists, especially Rochholtz, a reason to look for their main source in mythology - in other words, to see in them one of the countless allegorical expressions of the struggle between winter and summer. with the final victory of the latter. Rochholtz's epigraph to the first chapter of his study of William Tell, entitled "Die Naturmythe und die historisch gewordene Sage", chose the words of a 14th-century writer. Conrad von Amenhausen: “ich will dir goute maere sagen, hin sont wir den winter jagen”, that is, “I will tell you a good story about how we drove the winter away.” As mythological features indicate the extraordinary accuracy of shooting, the apple - as a symbol of the sun, arrows - as the usual symbol of the sun's rays and lightning. At the same time, such parallels are given as Hindu legends about the skillful shooting of Indra, striking Vritra, Greek legends about the destructive arrows of Apollo, Scandinavian legends about the solar gods Ulra, Genir, Heimdal armed with arrows. The Serbian song about Dušan's marriage speaks in favor of the mythological nature of the plot, where the hero Milos Vojnovic appears in the portrayal of a solar hero. When he drove up to the beautiful Roksanda, threw off his cloak from his shoulder, then “cloth and velvet shone; the shell (or silver plates) on the chest and the gilded buckles on the boots shone; Milos shone in the green field, like a bright sun in the sky, and he walked along the green grass, scattered rings and rings, small beads and precious stones on it.

William Tell in literature and art

William Tell is mentioned in Radishchev's ode "Liberty" "But Brutus and Tell will still wake up"
In Vlas Doroshevich's story "William Tell" (Swiss Traditions) main topic- ingratitude towards the hero of fellow citizens, for whom material wealth is more precious than freedom.
In "The Adventures of Tartarin of Tarscon" by Alphonse Daudet main character associates himself with William Tell.

Tennis player Roger Federer, on the set of a Gillette commercial in August 2010, performed a blow that, by analogy with the legend of the archer, was called the “William Tell blow”: the athlete twice knocked a metal can off the head of an assistant with a tennis ball.
In the Team Fortress 2 PC game, when playing as the Sniper class, there is an achievement "William Tell Shot". To get it, you need to pin the head of an enemy Heavy player to the wall.
For Salvador Dali, William Tell was interpreted as an abusive father wanting to kill his child. The artist's first painting dealing with this topic was simply titled "William Tell" (1933). In the same year he wrote The Riddle of William Tell. It mixes the legend of William Tell with the life of Lenin.
In the computer game Battlefield 3, there is a quest "William Tell", after which you get a special token with Wilhelm depicted on it.
Hitler had a negative attitude towards Wilhelm Tell "this Swiss robber" Schiller's drama was banned in the Third Reich. It is curious that this coincided with the assessments of Engels, who also considered the struggle of the Swiss against Austria as reactionary.

Links

Summary (synopsis) of Rossini's opera "William Tell" on the site "100 operas"

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See what "William Tell" is in other dictionaries:

- (German Wilhelm Tell) the hero of the drama by F. Schiller "William Tell" (1804). When creating the image of V.T. the author used the Swiss saga of a skilled archer. With V.T. the legend about the liberation of the Swiss cantons from the Austrian oppression is connected. TO… … literary heroes

WILHELM Tell, see Tell... Modern Encyclopedia

See Tell In… Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

William Tell- WILHELM TELL, see Tell. … Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

See Tell V. * * * WILHELM TELL WILHELM TELL, see Tell William. (see TELL Wilhelm) ... encyclopedic Dictionary

William Tell: William Tell Swiss national hero Wilhelm Tell Friedrich Schiller's play Wilhelm Tell painting by Salvador Dali William Tell opera by Gioacchino Rossini ... Wikipedia

D. Rossini opera "William Tell"

Gioacchino Rossini never wrote anything like William Tell. And it is not known for certain why, after this work, he forever stopped composing operas. Perhaps because of the understanding that the public is not yet ready for the new format of the opera, and he can no longer return to composing belcante buffoonades? Or because the composer was tired of an incredible amount of censorship obstacles? Don't know if I could Rossini go even further in his musical development, but there is no doubt that he opened a new page in the history of opera with William Tell.

Summary of Rossini's opera "" and the set interesting facts read about this work on our page.

Characters		Description
	baritone	swiss independence fighters
Walter Furst	tenor	swiss independence fighters
Arnold Melchtal	tenor	soldier of the Austrian army, then - a fighter for independence
Melchtal	bass	Arnold's father
Jemmy	soprano	son of Tell
Gesler	bass	Austrian viceroy
Rodolphe	tenor	commander of Gesler's troops
Matilda	soprano	Princess of the House of Habsburg

Summary of "William Tell"

Swiss canton of Uri, 13th century.

Wedding feast in the village of Burglen. Wilhelm Tell's mood is overshadowed by the increased interference in the affairs of the country by foreign rulers, the Habsburgs, whose governor is Gesler. His friend, Arnold Melchtal, serves in the Austrian army, which means he is on the side of the enemy. He tries to convince Arnold to go into the resistance and fight for independence. But he was brought to the camp of the Austrians by love for Princess Mathilde, from which he cannot refuse. Suddenly, a shepherd appears - he killed a soldier from the Gesler detachment who tried to harm his daughter, and now he is fleeing from persecution. There is only one salvation - to move to the other side of the lake. But the fisherman refuses to help - a storm is coming. William Tell puts the shepherd in the boat and sets off, despite the waves. When the Austrians break into a village, the locals do not hand over the fugitives. In revenge, Rudolf takes the old Melchtal hostage.

Matilda is tired of life at court, she is attracted by nature and the expanse of forests. She tells Arnold about this, they swear to each other in love. Tell and Furst appear, from whom Arnold learns that, on the orders of Gesler, his father was executed. He joins the rebels without hesitation. The people's leaders of the cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden unite to fight against tyranny.

Gesler arranges a feast in honor of his reign and orders all the inhabitants to bow to their hat. Tell refuses, so Gesler forces him to shoot an apple on the head of Jemmy, his son, with a crossbow. After enduring this test, Tell says that if he had missed, the second arrow would have gone to Gesler. For these words he is sentenced to death.

Boats with convicts and the Austrian governor are sailing across the lake to the place of execution. A storm begins, Tell manages to direct the boat to the shore, get out of it and kill Gesler with one shot from a crossbow. The people rejoice. The uprisings cover the whole country: nothing can stand in the way of the liberation of Switzerland.

Photo

Interesting Facts

Not only for opera Rossini , but there was also a contradictory attitude towards Schiller's drama at different points in history. At first it was perceived as a hymn to freedom, then it was radically reduced, and in Nazi Germany it was even banned, as it justified the murder of a tyrant. Schiller's play is open to multiple interpretations because it equally illuminates different topics: the political message of Switzerland's struggle for independence is just as important as the story of simple virtuous people leading an idyllic life in harmony with the forces of nature. With courage and heroism, these characters respond to the challenge of external circumstances. But after the end of the battles, they all inevitably return to their usual way of life.

The mixture of the idyllic and the heroic in William Tell also reflected Rossini's personal sympathies. But to what extent did the composer share the political motives of this story? Throughout his life, he was repeatedly accused of being apolitical: he always maintained neutral relations with the authorities. Unambiguous statements against oppression, such as in "Moses in Egypt" or "William Tell" are an exception for Rossini. Patriotic and anti-tyrannical ideas were secondary in his operas, not only because of the power of censorship, but also because Rossini's creative nature and his understanding of musical theater were quite conservative.
On November 7, 1893, at the Liceo Theater in Barcelona, the anarchist Santiago Salvador Franch, during the second act of William Tell, committed a terrorist attack by throwing two explosive devices from the gallery into the hall. This act expressed his reaction to the execution of his comrade, the terrorist Paulino Latorre. The first bomb exploded in the 13th row. The second - fortunately did not detonate, rolling under the chair. A total of 20 people died, many were injured. After the restoration of the theater, some of the seats in rows 13 and 14, where the dead sat, remained empty for a long time at all performances.

Best numbers from the opera "William Tell"

Overture Finale (listen)

"Sois immobile" - arioso of William Tell (listen)

"Sombre foret" - Matilda's romance (listen)

"Asile hereditaire...Amis, secondez ma vengeance" - Arnold's aria (listen)

The history of the creation and productions of "William Tell"

The two main well-known facts about Gioacchino Rossini are: he composed very quickly, releasing 3-4 operas a year, and he stopped writing operas forever at the age of 37, while living to 76. William Tell is his longest opera, on which he spent a lot (by his own standards) of time - as much as half a year, later refining and reducing the five-act action to a four-act one. In addition, this is also his last opera. Moreover, there is evidence that this was not a coincidence, but his balanced decision.

There is no unequivocal opinion on what kind of work was taken as the basis - either the drama of one of the main suppliers of opera plots in the 19th century, Friedrich Schiller, or the tragedy of the French playwright A. Lemierre. Most likely, the authors of the opera were well acquainted with both works, as well as with ancient legend about the Swiss liberator William Tell. The libretto was commissioned by V.-J. Etienne de Jouy and J.-L.-F. Bisu, it was created on French, since Rossini lived in Paris at that time.

The premiere took place on August 3, 1829 at the Paris Opera. Critics were delighted, and the audience was less attracted to the new musical language of Rossini, and the heroic-patriotic plot was far from the usual opera buffa. In addition, the original version of the opera lasted almost six hours. After finishing, the maestro reduced the score to about four hours of music, but it was still very long. The opera did not become a theatrical favorite either due to the fact that the main tenor part (Arnold) was so complex that it was difficult to find a good performer who could not lose sound quality throughout the performance. And the abundance of purely choral scenes imposed the obligation to work seriously with the opera choir, which entailed considerable financial and time costs.

The staging of the opera in Italy was associated with censorship restrictions - the country was under Austrian influence and the theme of national liberation, and even from the Austrians, was absolutely unacceptable. The opera was nevertheless translated into Italian and staged in Neapolitan San Carlo in 1833. However, it soon disappeared from the repertoire and was performed very rarely in the next 30 years. Oddly enough, "William Tell" was much more popular in Vienna. In the early 1830s, the opera was performed in London and New York. Although, due to censorship requirements, the work sometimes even lost its name - the main character was renamed either the Tyrolean Andreas Gofer, or the Scot Wallas, or Rudolf di Sterling.

Russia in this sense was no exception - in Russian she told about a certain "Karl the Bold", the premiere took place in St. Petersburg in 1836. The original "William Tell" was already staged in Leningrad in 1932, and during the Great Patriotic War it was performed by the Bolshoi Theater during the evacuation.

Fragments of the overture to the opera were widely used by filmmakers; it accompanies the action of the films:

"Pink Panther", 2006
Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London, 2004
Princess Diaries, 2001
"My life", 1993
"A Clockwork Orange", 1971

Infrequent productions of "William Tell" remained in video versions:

Pesaro Festival performance, 1995, directed by P.L. Pizzi, in the main roles: M. Pertusi (William Tell), G. Kunde (Arnold), R. Ferrari (Gesler), D. Dessy (Matilda)
Performance La Scala, 1988, directed by L. Ronconi, in the main roles: D. Zancanaro, C. Merritt, L. Roni, C. Stader.

Today, there are only 30 productions in world theaters " William Tell", according to the frequency of performance, it is only in the second hundred operas. Such discreet attention to the whole work more than compensates for the popularity of the gallop from the overture, which is perhaps the most famous melody in the world, performed daily by many symphony orchestras, and more a large number mobile phones. It accompanies ads for sneakers, cars, and pizza. It is hummed under their breath by employees hurrying to the office. Don't write Rossini nothing more, these few minutes of a six-hour opera would have already made him immortal. And, probably, the master of bel canto, whose muse fell silent forever after "William Tell", understood this better than anyone.

Gioacchino Rossini "William Tell"