Line #10 Theatre/DerVampyr


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/872ea783_66a4_4eb1_be7d_bca066a394bd.jpeg]]
2	''Der Vampyr'' (''The Vampire'') is an 1828 German {{opera}} composed by Heinrich Marschner to a libretto by his brother-in-law, Wilhelm August Wohlbrück. The story is based on "Literature/TheVampyre" by Creator/JohnWilliamPolidori, the first prose vampire story written in English, by way of French, [[http://www.litgothic.com/Texts/vampire_bride.html English]], and German theatrical plays adapted from it. While it was incredibly popular and successful in its day, it is only rarely revived.
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4	The story follows a vampire, Lord Ruthven, who must kill three women over the course of the next day in order to remain a vampire for another year. His friend, Aubry, discovers that he is a vampire and is sworn to secrecy. When Ruthven is about to marry -- and kill -- Aubry's lover Malwina, Aubry struggles between breaking his oath and dooming himself or keeping silent and dooming Malwina.
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6	In 1992, it was adapted into a British TV miniseries, ''Series/TheVampyrASoapOpera''.
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8	An English translation of the libretto is available [[http://opera.stanford.edu/iu/libretti/vampyr.html here]].
9	----
10	!!Provides examples of:
11	* AdaptationExpansion: From both Polidori's "The Vampyre" and the plays ''Der Vampyr'' was more directly based on. The opera adds several new characters and expands Ruthven's role and character.
12	* ArrangedMarriage: Ruthven and Malwina.
13	* AxCrazy: Lord Ruthven is a sadistic, bloodsucking parasite of a vampire.
14	* HemoErotic: Vampire bites are described in sexual terms; for example, Ruthven describes killing a woman as "suck[ing] new life with a kiss."
15	* OdeToIntoxication: The drinking song quartet "Im Herbst da muss man trinken! (In the fall one should drink!)" provides an excuse to drink in all seasons:
16	-->In winter one should drink!
17	-->In winter it is cold;
18	-->The blood of the grape warms us then
19	-->...
20	-->In summer one should drink!
21	-->In summer it is hot,
22	-->The blood of the grape cools us
23	-->...
24	-->In spring one should drink!
25	-->Then it's not hot nor cold!
26	* OurVampiresAreDifferent:
27	** Ordinary weapons will injure a vampire, but he will heal completely if he lays in the moonlight (this comes directly from Polidori's "Vampyre", and appears again in the later work ''Literature/VarneyTheVampire'').
28	** Vampires don't seem to need blood on a regular basis, but must kill three women once a year in order to remain a vampire. If you prevent a vampire from killing his victims, he will die.
29	** People killed by vampires become vampires themselves, but you can also become a vampire by being an immoral person: for example, by breaking your oaths.
30	* SparedByTheAdaptation: Aubrey's unnamed sister dies in "The Vampyre", but in ''Der Vampyr'', where she has become his lover Malwina, she lives.
31	* VillainSong: Ruthven's "Ha! welche Lust! (Ha! What Pleasure!)", describes his pleasure at being a vampire and sucking blood.
32	-->Ha! What pleasure,
33	-->With loving caress,
34	-->With lascivious courage
35	-->The sweetest blood
36	-->Like sap of the roses,
37	-->From red-purple lips
38	-->Adulatingly to sip! -
39	-->And when the burning thirst is quenched,
40	-->And when the blood oozes from the heart,
41	-->And when they groan full of terror,
42	-->Haha! What delight!

Context Theatre / DerVampyr