A series of blogs identifying five general categories of the nurse character’s role in operas from the mid-seventeenth through the early twenty-first century. The categories are fluid and overlap, so that the nurse character can and usually does appear in more than one category within an opera. Taken from a careful study of librettos and available performances of a hundred-plus operas with at least one nurse character.
Scheming Nurses: Margaretha
Genoveva by Robert Schumann, Libretto Schumann’s Own
and by Robert Reinick
Premiered in Leipzig, 1850
Count Siegfried goes off to war and leaves the care of his castle and of his new bride Genoveva to his trusted knight Golo, who loves her. Golo’s foster mother and former wet nurse Margaretha, who is a sorceress, arrives seeking revenge on the Count for having driven her away years ago for practicing black magic. Margaretha witnesses Golo kissing Genoveva – the event that propels the plot forward to framing Genoveva for adultery with the elderly steward Drago. Siegfried learns of the alleged adultery, and Margaretha, who has traveled to where the he is convalescing from a battle wound, disguises herself as a nurse in an attempt to poison him. To confirm the allegation of adultery, Margaretha shows Siegfried a magic mirror that falsely discloses Genoveva in a compromising situation; Siegfried orders his wife’s execution then smashes the mirror, giving rise to Drago’s ghost who orders the sorceress to confess or face death by fire. She confesses and leads Siegfried to his wife; the two are reunited. The fate of Golo and Margaretha is left uncertain.
A scheme is simply a well thought out plan to attain a particular end result – it is neither inherently good nor inherently evil. Nurse characters have been scheming from the time they first appeared on the opera stage. When undertaken in the guise of nutrix ex machina to bring lovers together, the scheming is harmless and contributes to what should be a positive outcome, though as the Romeo and Juliet story shows, tragedy can ensue.
In some cases, devious nurses’ scheming borders on witchcraft, which is the topic of this Blog. “Witches were an imaginary personification of the social power of older women in its negative aspects,” writes Jeffrey Henderson. “The sinister power ascribed to witches derives from old women’s contact with the mysterious, disturbing and polluting events surrounding birth and death” – what Roberts refers to as “the pervasive conjunction of womb and tomb.” 1 And some of these old women are nurses. Witch, sorceress, crone, and hag have been used interchangeably to describe cantankerous old women displaying disagreeable, malicious, or sinister traits. “Demonized crones are perceived as witches and harbingers of death, nearly always repulsive and threatening,” with malevolent intentions attributed to the witch. 2
Opera has its share of witches and sorceresses who appear individually and in malevolent choruses. As Philip Henscher, writing for The Guardian of 11 July 2008, remarked tongue-in-cheek in anticipation of that year’s upcoming Glyndebourne production of Hänsel und Gretel:
The witch has a frequent presence in opera, sometimes in rather unexpected ways. Few composers and librettists have hesitated to interpolate a scene with witches. Setting an episode from Aeneid and troubled by the strange lack of witches? No problem – bung one in! An opera about a masked ball in 18th-century America? Of course, the obvious solution – a scene with a witch. Perhaps you’re planning an opera based on Punch and Judy and puzzled that there’s no traditional part for a witch alongside Jack Ketch, the giant crocodile, Punch’s dog and a long string of sausages. Simple: write one in. 3
One of the best-known and most popular operatic witches is the Gingerbread Witch in Hänsel und Gretel. The story of the two children in a food-insecure family whose angry mother sends them out into the forest to collect strawberries is well known. They encounter the Gingerbread Witch, whom they outsmart by using her own magic against her.
Some of opera’s witch characters hide behind the façade of a nurse. Margaretha in Genoveva is a sorceress, the knight Golo’s foster mother, and disguises herself as a nurse in order to further her evil scheme against Count Siegfried. That Margaretha was wet nurse to the infant Golo did not create an enduring bond lasting into adulthood, and as a nurse, Morena has no compunction about initiating her charge into a devilish conspiracy to win a prince’s love by sorcery when it cannot be won by honest means.
Schumann’s inspiration for Genoveva came after reading Friedrich Hebbel’s 1841 play of the same title based on an eighth-century folk legend. Disappointed with the libretto that his friend and poet Robert Reinick had prepared, Schumann wrote his own libretto that drew heavily on Hebbel’s work, incorporating material from Ludwig Tieck’s 1799 Leben und Tod der heiligen Genoveva as well. In Schumann’s opera, Count Siegfried goes off to war and leaves the care of his castle and of his new bride Genoveva to his trusted knight Golo, who loves her. Golo’s foster mother and former wet nurse Margaretha, who is a sorceress, arrives seeking revenge on the Count for having driven her away years ago for practicing black magic. Margaretha witnesses Golo kissing Genoveva when she has fainted – the event that propels the plot forward to framing Genoveva for adultery with the elderly steward Drago when she rejects Golo’s advances, calling him a “dishonourable bastard.” That Golo in fact is a bastard fuels his desire for revenge. Drago is killed in the scheme, Siegfried learns of the alleged adultery through a letter, and Margaretha, who has traveled to Strasbourg where the Count is convalescing from a battle wound, disguises herself as a nurse in an attempt to delay his recovery by poisoning him. To confirm the allegation of adultery, Margaretha shows Siegfried a magic mirror that falsely discloses Genoveva in a compromising situation; he orders his wife’s execution. The Count smashes the mirror, giving rise to Drago’s ghost who orders the sorceress to confess to Siegfried or face death by fire. She confesses and leads Siegfried to his imprisoned wife; the two are reunited. Schumann leaves the fate of Golo and Margaretha uncertain, but according to Stephen Billington, “from Schumann’s correspondence with the opera conductor in Leipzig, Julius Rietz, it is clear that Golo commits suicide after his last exit.” 4 In Tieck’s and Hebbel’s dramas, Golo is murdered, and Margaretha – the “totally evil, almost fairy-tale-like witch” Winfreda in Tieck’s telling of the story – is burned at the stake after her confession. 5
Billington notes that in both the Hebbel and Schumann versions of the story, “the real central figure is always Golo. It is his passion for Genoveva that sets the drama in motion.” 6 Both playwright and composer emphasize Margaretha’s influence on Golo: he is not acting on his own initiative but rather at the instigation of his former nurse. It is her scheming that gives the drama its direction when her knowledge of Golo’s indiscretion provides her with the power to destroy him. She goes about that destruction in an underhanded way. “Ah, didst thou see, then? Die!” Golo sings, seizing hold of his nurse. “Ah, Golo, thou art sick,” yes, sick to death, Margaretha replies. Trust me, she says, “I know the cure.” Golo rejects her: “Off, witch, away! Thee, with this house and all the world do I abhor.” 7
Margaretha’s cure is to convince Golo that Genoveva will welcome his advances, and to make herself indispensable to the success of his passionate quest. Once Golo is aware of how his nurse can be useful to him and asks for her help, Margaretha knows that he is prepared to do her bidding. “Spells I have wound, Fast is he bound – My scheme is well laid, My captive he’s made,” she repeats over and over, to underscore her coup. 8
That Margaretha is committed to retribution is evident from the alacrity with which she sings the Finale of Act 1, her first notes of the opera. A sforzando opening chord announces the nurse’s presence. “See there – the handsome gallant Knight!” she remarks, observing Golo’s stolen kiss, in a spirited Molto vivace melodic line in A minor over repeated staccato eighth-note chords in the accompaniment. “My rest is gone, no peace have I, To fill their place with spite I’ll try!” 9 The juxtaposition of vigorous melodic line against steady rhythmic accompaniment suggests intensity of purpose and restlessness to get on with her scheme.
A comprehensive list of the hundred-plus operas that include a nurse character is found on my website under BOOKS > The Nurse in History and Opera > Book Extras.
To learn more about how the nurse is portrayed on the opera stage, see Judith Barger, The Nurse in History and Opera: From Servant to Sister (Lexington Books, 2024).
Notes
- Henderson, “Women Attic Old Comedy,” 126; Roberts, Literary Criticism as Dream Analysis, 299.
- Roberts, Literary Criticism as Dream Analysis, 288.
- Philip Henscher, “Operacadabra!”, The Guardian (London), 11 July 2008.
- Steven Miles Billington, “Robert Schumann’s Genoveva: A Source Study” (Ph.D. diss., New York University, 1987), 83.
- Billington, “Robert Schumann’s Genoveva,” 62.
- Billington, “Robert Schumann’s Genoveva,” 79.
- Schumann, Genoveva [vocal score] (London: Novello, Ewer, [1887], 44–45.
- Schumann, Genoveva [vocal score], 49–52.
- Schumann, Genoveva [vocal score], 40.
