mikeh wrote:There are 22 scenes before the Act 2 Finale in the libretto I have, too. The discrepancy is that the libretto I have has seven scenes within the Finale, for a total of 29.
Well, that's something different. My author claims 20 scenes plus a finale in Act one, and 22 scenes plus a finale in Act two. Well, and there are 22 songs, 11 songs in first act (finale is included), 11 songs in second act (finale is included). Whatever the number of scenes inside the finale is, it doesn't disturb the counting 20+22 and inside the song category each finale is counted as "1" (and this forms another 22; "22 songs").
http://www.bamptonopera.org/repertory/m ... detail.htm
Who composed what?
Act 1
1. Overture Henneberg
2. Introduction, You maidens, you young folk! Henneberg
3. Aria (Lubano), Well, I never! Did you ever? Henneberg
4. Aria (Lubanara), Thus a pretty maiden can Henneberg
5. Chorus and accompanied recitative,
Hark, beautiful harmony Schack
6. Duet (Lubanara and Lubano), Tralleralara
Gerl
7. Acc. recit and aria (Eutifronte and Lubanara), At your command I come Gerl
8. Chorus and solo (Lubano), Look there, a stag runs by! Henneberg
9. Aria (Nadine), A woman who has felt love's dart Henneberg
10. Acc. recit and aria (Nadir and Astromonte), You'll ne'er do that, I swear to you! Schack
11. Finale, Say why, Nadine, you run from here Henneberg and Schikaneder
Act II
1. Overture no attribution
2. Chorus and recitative (Eutrifonte and Genie),
O Astromonte, be thou nigh Henneberg
3. Aria (Lubano), To trust a girl would not be wise Henneberg
4. March no attribution
5. Duet (Lubano and Lubanara), Now, my sweet darling Mozart
6. Aria (Eutifronte), Nadir, you'll triumph! no attribution
7. Aria (Nadir), Ye gods show mercy Gerl
8. Chorus, Astromonte dies through us Schack
9. Aria (Lubano), Yes, love is a funny thing no attribution
10. Aria (Nadine), My darling, my dearest Nadir! Schikaneder
11 . Finale, Miaow, miaow! = 1 song
So there are 42 scenes and 22 songs.
Maybe he created a subsystem of "7 scenes" inside the finishing sequence of Act 2.
... :-) ... the mystery of the book Sepher Yetzirah (the case, that one should see the 64 within the "32 ways of wisdom" isn't really an object in later Kabbala (at least as far I know). But it appears then later in the book Bahir, which isn't taken as kabbalistic text, but as a pre-kaballa text in the evaluation of Scholem (according Scholem the kabbala period started with 1170). There it is spoken of 64 forms (only in one of various independent passages in the book) and there it is added a group of 8.
95. The Blessed Holy One has a single Tree, and it has twelve diagonal boundaries:
The northeast boundary, the southeast boundary;
The upper east boundary, the lower east boundary;
The southwest boundary, the northwest boundary;
The upper west boundary, the lower west boundary;
The upper south boundary, the lower south boundary;
The upper north boundary, the lower north boundary;
They continually spread forever and ever;
They are the arms of the world.
On the inside of them is the Tree. Paralleling these diagonals there are twelve Functionaries.
Inside the Sphere there are also twelve Functionaries.
Including the diagonals themselves, this makes a total of 36 Functionaries.
Each of these has another. It is thus written (Ecclesiastes 5:7), “For one above another
watches.” [This makes a total of 72.]
It therefore comes out that the east has nine, the west has nine, the north has nine, and the
south has nine.
These are twelve, twelve, twelve, and they are the Functionaries in the Axis, the Sphere, and
the Heart.
Their total is 36. The power of each of these 36 is in every other one.
Even though there are twelve in each of the three, they are all attached to each other.
Therefore, all 36 Powers are in the first one, which is the Axis. And if you seek them in the
Sphere, you will find the very same ones. And if you seek them in the Heart, you will again
find the very same ones.
Each one therefore has 36. All of them do not have more than 36 forms.
All of them complete the Heart [which has a numerical value of 32]. Four are then left over.
Add 32 to 32 and the sum is 64. These are the 64 Forms .
How do we know that 32 must be added to 32? Because it is written (Ecclesiastes 5:7), “For
one above another watches, [and there are higher ones above them].”
We thus have 64, eight less than the 72 names of the Blessed Holy One. These are alluded to
in the verse, “there are higher ones above them,” and they are the seven days of the week.
But one is still missing. This is referred to in the next verse (Ecclesiastes 5:8), “The
advantage of the land in everything is the King.”
What is this “advantage”? This is the place from which the earth was graven. It is an
advantage over what existed previously.
And what is this advantage? Everything in the world that people see is taken from its
radiance. Then it is an advantage.
http://www.hermetics.org/pdf/sacred/bahir.pdf
So nothing is wrong with the arrangement of the opera. From the perspective of I-Ching there's also nothing wrong. The I-Ching has 64 hexagrams and 8 trigrams and one of the 8 trigrams is "heaven" (or the "creator", if one explains it in Western terminology).
22 + 20 + 22 is historical more an "Egypt mystery" than a Jewish mystery. But in the deciding biblical scene a Egyptian-Jewish prince "Moses" guided Israel from Egypt into the desert. In the corresponding story Moses arranged 10 plagues in Egypt and gave the Jews 10 written Laws, which he got from god on a mountain. 10 + 10 = 20. The Egypt system was destroyed (for the Jews), a system with 2x32 elements was born. The 10 laws were written ... naturally somebody must have known the language in which it was written, likely with the help of an alphabet with 22 letters.
That there was an Egypt system with 42 gods of the death, split in a group of 22 and 20 is only known by archeology, as far I know. A use of "64" is known from old stories around Toth, they are, as far I know, not directly related to the 42 gods of the death, but if you know the binary system based on 2^6 it's easy to understand the context between both.
Which is accurate? Looking at your link, I see that its descriptions of scenes, despite being from a "Sage", are not direct quotes, but paraphrases, using different words than the libretto and shortening what it says. The descriptions are marked with phrases like "Zu Beginn der Oper" or "um ihre Opfer", not in the libretto. And was it an "Oper" or a Singspiel?
I think, the difference was floating, but I'm by far not an opera-specialist. I think, the Germans hadn't an "opera", but "Singspiele". At some stage these "Singspiele" were accepted as "opera" in the late 18th century.
Maybe if you found a libretto, we could talk some more about this. Meanwhile, I will assume that there are 21 scenes in Act One and 29 in Act Two. There may be some significance to that; it remains to be seen (see my next post).
Your speculations about the 42 gods of Egypt might better be applied to such things as why there are 42 special cards in the Poilly, or why some lodges added 9 super-mystical initiations to the already-mystical 33 of the Scottish Rite (and the Petit Etteilla). The number of initiatory levels and the number of Poilly cards might possibly be connected somehow, or the number of levels have a connection to Weishaupt, pulling the strings; as for the 42 gods, I have to confess I can't remember what you said, somewhere, about where these people would have read about them.
The Poilly deck has not much of Egypt, but much for a youthful monarch of France, who somehow lived in a very solipsistic world view, and he is as monarch in full absolutism a very singular appearance in European history (reigning 72 years, which is a record).
"Your speculations about the 42 gods of Egypt might better be applied to such things as why there are 42 special cards in the Poilly" ... :-) ... you still don't understand the binary system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/42_%28number%29
There are 42 principles of Ma'at, the Ancient Egyptian personification of physical and moral law, order, and truth. In the judgement scene described in the Egyptian and the Book of the Coming/Going Forth by Day (the Book of the Dead (which evolved from the Coffin Texts and the Pyramid Texts)), there are 42 gods and goddesses of Egypt, personifying the principles of Ma'at. These 42 correspond to the 42 Nomes (Governmental Units) of Egypt. If the departed successfully answers all 42, s/he becomes an Osiris.
http://nemo.nu/ibisportal/0egyptintro/1egypt/index.htm
One spell was spoken in front of a tribunal of 42 gods, and proclaimed innocence of a series of specified sins that covered every kinds of wrong doing. This made the soul worthy to go further into the Judgement Hall where the Court of Osiris (see above) had the final word. Being approved of there he was ready to embark on the Boat of Re to sail to the "Land in the West" for eternal rest.
http://whitney05.hubpages.com/hub/Egypt ... -Afterlife
While justifying himself, the deceased would face all 42 gods and heart would be weighed against a feather. If the heart does not balance perfectly, Amemat would devour it and Set would eat the rest of the body.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nome_%28Egypt%29
Not only did the division into nomes remain in place for more than three millennia, the areas of the individual nomes and their ordering remained remarkably stable. Some, like Xois in the Delta or Khent in Upper Egypt, were first mentioned on the Palermo stone, which was inscribed in the Fifth Dynasty. The names of a few, like the nome of Bubastis, appeared no earlier than the New Kingdom. Under the system that prevailed for most of pharaonic Egypt's history, the country was divided into 42 nomes.
20 Nomes in Lower Egypt
22 Nomes in Upper Egypt
Here are the 42 Tarot cards of Egypt ... :-)
http://ancientegyptweblog.blogspot.com/ ... chive.html
Each Nome had a special hieroglyph. The quoted webpage has the theory, that each nome refers to an astronomical point:
The system of the 42 gods and the 42 Nomes seem to reach back to c. 2400 BC. It's said or claimed, that each temple carried inscriptions of the 42 signs, 20 (or 22 ?) at the backside, and 22 (or 20 ?) at the front side.
Each Nome had its own totem (or symbol), although it seems that those in Lower Egypt are of a later date than those of Upper Egypt. However, only the Upper Egyptian Nomes were represented in the form of a standard. Many Egyptian temples included a depiction of the Nomes, sometimes personified. The Capital city of a Nome was also its religious and economic centre as most Egyptians lived in small villages which were relatively undeveloped. Some also had a strategic importance either in defence of the realm or for the army´s excursions outside Egypt.
...
While the provinces of Upper Egypt did not change in number after the Old Kingdom, more Nomes were added to Lower (northern) Egypt as the marshes were cultivated land and the branches of the Nile changed course. Under the system that prevailed for most of pharaonic Egypt´s history, the country was divided into 42 nomes. For most of the dynastic period there were twenty-two Nomes in Upper (southern) Egypt and twenty Nomes in Lower (northern) Egypt.
The Nomes survived until the Roman Period when they minted "Nome coins" which still reflected the individual character and tradition of each Nome. However, they were abandoned during the bureaucratic reforms of Diocletian (245-312AD), and Constantine (272-337AD).
http://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/nomes.html