Der ferne Klang
Encyclopedia
Der ferne Klang is an opera
by Franz Schreker
, libretto
by the composer.
caused Schreker to abandon the project for the first time in 1903. He did not return to it until 1905, after having attended the first performances of Richard Strauss
' opera Salome
. The orchestral interlude of Act 3 (entitled Nachtstück) was given its first concert performance by the Wiener Tonkünstlerorchester on 25 November 1909 under the direction of Oskar Nedbal
. Although the performance was a stormy one, propelling Schreker to the forefront of progressive Viennese composers, Schreker felt encouraged enough to finally complete the opera in 1910.
Alban Berg
prepared the vocal score of the opera in 1911.
in Frankfurt conducted by Ludwig Rottenberg
and continued to be performed regularly over the next two decades when it held a special place in the German-speaking world as one of the pioneering works of modern opera. Important productions included the Czech premiere in May 1920 at the Neues Deutsches Theater in Prague
under Alexander Zemlinsky and the highly successful Berlin State Opera
production of May 1925 under Erich Kleiber
with the composers wife Maria Schreker and Richard Tauber
in the leading roles. The opera was also staged in Leningrad
(1925) and Stockholm
(1927). The last productions during Schreker's lifetime were at the Stadttheater Aachen
and in Teplitz-Schönau during the 1930-31 season, whereafter the Nazi ban on Entartete Musik caused it to disappear from the repertory.
The opera has been rediscovered in recent years and its continuing popularity is illustrated by the number of performances in 2010. These included three at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin and another in May at the Zurich Opera House
under conductor Ingo Metzmacher
with Juliane Banse
as Grete and Roberto Sacca as Fritz.
The opera was also given as part of Bard SummerScape
, Bard College's summer festival in July and August in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York under music director Leon Botstein
and staged by "visionary director" Thaddeus Strassberger
.
offstage: flute, clarinet, 2 horns, timpani, tambourine
, harp, 3 mandolin
s, 2 guitar
s, 2 violins, viola, violoncello, double bass, piano
onstage (gypsy music): clarinet in D, cimbalom, 2 violins, viola, violoncello, double bass.
As Grete is returning to her house, she meets a strange old woman, who asks the surprised girl about Fritz and promises to help Greta, if she asks for it. Grete continues home.
Back at home, Grete's mother, Frau Graumann, speaks to Grete about the debts the family has accrued. Frau Graumann has decided that instead of borrowing money, Grete should get a job to help improve the money situation. Grete complains that her father drinks too much.
Just as she is saying this, Grete's father, Graumann, arrives with his drinking companions, an actor and Dr. Vigelius. Graumann has just lost his daughter to his landlord in a dice game, and they have come to collect the debt. When Grete refuses, her father becomes furious. Before he can do violence to his daughter, his comrades drag Graumann back to the pub.
To calm her mother down, Grete pretends to be happy to marry the landlord. But when her mother leaves her alone in the room, she jumps out of the window and hurries to find Fritz.
Grete cannot catch up to Fritz, and falls exhausted on the bank of a lake. She thinks of drowning herself, but then becomes conscious the beauty of nature at night. She falls asleep, thinking of their loving. The old woman, in reality a prostitute, appears again and promises to bring Grete a shining future if she will only follow her.
This particular day, she promises that she will end the suffering of her suitors and decide on her next lover, announcing that whoever can touch her heart the most deeply with a song will win her. The Count sings "In einem Lande ein bleicher König," a sad but beautiful song, which the crowd applauds. The Chevalier counters with "Das Blumenmädchen von Sorrent," a bawdy song that the crowd enjoys as they noisily join in the singing.
As Grete is making up her mind, a stranger appears in the midst. It is Fritz, who recognizes Grete immediately and goes straight to her. He tells her that he has not found the distant sound that has been eluding him these past ten years, so he went in search of her instead and now wants to make her his wife.
While Grete is still in love with Fritz and would like to be with him, she decides she must reveal to him that she is a courtesan, and then asks if he still wants to marry her. At first he does not believe it, but when the Count challenges him to a duel, Fritz, shaken and disappointed, refuses to duel and departs. Grete, in her despair, falls into the arms of the Count.
Grete, meanwhile, has lost the protection of the Count and is now a common streetwalker. She hears of the riot and is concerned for Fritz. On the way home, she is accosted by someone on the street, and Dr. Vigelius and the actors, who are staying in a close by hotel, appear and save her from being molested. Dr. Vigelius escorts Grete to his house, telling her that he very much regrets allowing Graumann to gamble away his daughter.
Fritz sits at home, old and depressed. He recognizes too late that he has destroyed not only his life, but also his love. In vain, his friend Rudolf tries to cheer him up and reminds him that there is still time to rewrite the opera. Fritz tells him that he is at the end of his life and only wants to see Grete, whom he foolishly pushed away twice. Rudolf goes to look for her, but Dr. Vigelius arrives instead, bringing Grete.
Grete and Fritz gratefully sink into each other's arms. Finally the composer hears the distant sounds, which, it seems, were always within reach. He joyfully begins to write a new ending to his opera, but before he can finish, he dies in the arms of his beloved.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
by Franz Schreker
Franz Schreker
Franz Schreker was an Austrian composer, conductor, teacher and administrator. Primarily a composer of operas, his style is characterized by aesthetic plurality , timbral experimentation, strategies of extended tonality and...
, libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by the composer.
Composition history
Drafted in 1901, Schreker completed the three-act libretto in 1903. However, composing the music would take about ten years. Criticism from his composition teacher Robert FuchsRobert Fuchs
Robert Fuchs was an Austrian composer and music teacher.As Professor of music theory at the Vienna Conservatory, Fuchs taught many notable composers, while he was himself a highly regarded composer in his lifetime....
caused Schreker to abandon the project for the first time in 1903. He did not return to it until 1905, after having attended the first performances of Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
' opera Salome
Salome (opera)
Salome is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by the composer, based on Hedwig Lachmann’s German translation of the French play Salomé by Oscar Wilde. Strauss dedicated the opera to his friend Sir Edgar Speyer....
. The orchestral interlude of Act 3 (entitled Nachtstück) was given its first concert performance by the Wiener Tonkünstlerorchester on 25 November 1909 under the direction of Oskar Nedbal
Oskar Nedbal
Oskar Nedbal was a Czech violist, composer, and conductor of classical music.-Life:Nedbal was born in Tábor, in southern Bohemia. He studied the violin at the Prague Conservatory under Antonín Bennewitz...
. Although the performance was a stormy one, propelling Schreker to the forefront of progressive Viennese composers, Schreker felt encouraged enough to finally complete the opera in 1910.
Alban Berg
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
prepared the vocal score of the opera in 1911.
Performance history
The opera was first performed on 18 August 1912 at the Alte OperAlte Oper
The Alte Oper is a major concert hall and former opera house in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The building was inaugurated in 1880. Many important works have been premiered at the Alte Oper, including Carl Orff's Carmina Burana in 1937....
in Frankfurt conducted by Ludwig Rottenberg
Ludwig Rottenberg
Ludwig Rottenberg was an Austrian/German composer and conductor.-Biography:Rottenberg came from a German-speaking Jewish family in Czernowitz, the then-capital of Bukovina, which at the time was part of the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy...
and continued to be performed regularly over the next two decades when it held a special place in the German-speaking world as one of the pioneering works of modern opera. Important productions included the Czech premiere in May 1920 at the Neues Deutsches Theater in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
under Alexander Zemlinsky and the highly successful Berlin State Opera
Berlin State Opera
The Staatsoper Unter den Linden is a German opera company. Its permanent home is the opera house on the Unter den Linden boulevard in the Mitte district of Berlin, which also hosts the Staatskapelle Berlin orchestra.-Early years:...
production of May 1925 under Erich Kleiber
Erich Kleiber
Erich Kleiber was an Austrian conductor.- Biography :Born in Vienna, Kleiber studied in Prague...
with the composers wife Maria Schreker and Richard Tauber
Richard Tauber
Richard Tauber was an Austrian tenor acclaimed as one of the greatest singers of the 20th century. Some critics commented that "his heart felt every word he sang".-Early life:...
in the leading roles. The opera was also staged in Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
(1925) and Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
(1927). The last productions during Schreker's lifetime were at the Stadttheater Aachen
Theater Aachen
Theater Aachen is a theatre in Aachen, Germany. It is the principal venue in that city for operas, musical theatre, plays, and concerts. It is the home of the Aachen Symphony Orchestra. Construction on the original theatre began in 1822 and it opened on 15 May 1825...
and in Teplitz-Schönau during the 1930-31 season, whereafter the Nazi ban on Entartete Musik caused it to disappear from the repertory.
The opera has been rediscovered in recent years and its continuing popularity is illustrated by the number of performances in 2010. These included three at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin and another in May at the Zurich Opera House
Zurich Opera House
Opernhaus Zürich is an opera house in the Swiss city of Zurich. It has been the home of the Zurich Opera since 1891.- History :...
under conductor Ingo Metzmacher
Ingo Metzmacher
Ingo Metzmacher is a German conductor. He is the son of the cellist Rudolf Metzmacher. His musical education in piano, music theory and conducting was in Hanover, Salzburg and Cologne...
with Juliane Banse
Juliane Banse
Juliane Banse is a German soprano and noted lieder singer. She received her vocal training at the Zürich Opera, and with Brigitte Fassbaender in Munich. She won First Prize in the singing competition of the Kulturforum in Munich in 1989. In 1989, she made her operatic debut as Pamina in Mozart's...
as Grete and Roberto Sacca as Fritz.
The opera was also given as part of Bard SummerScape
Bard SummerScape
Bard SummerScape is an annual seven week long arts festival held during the months of July and August at Bard College. Founded in 2002, the festival is held in tandem with the Bard Music Festival and features performances of opera, dance, theater, music, film, and cabaret. The festival attracts...
, Bard College's summer festival in July and August in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York under music director Leon Botstein
Leon Botstein
Leon Botstein is an American conductor and the President of Bard College . Botstein is the music director and principal conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra and conductor laureate of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, where he served as music director and principal conductor from 2003-2010...
and staged by "visionary director" Thaddeus Strassberger
Thaddeus Strassberger
Thaddeus Strassberger is a celebrated American opera director and scenic designer. In 2005 he was awarded the European Opera Directing Prize by Opera Europa for his work on Opera Ireland's production of Rossini's La Cenerentola.-Biography:...
.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast 18 August 1912 (Conductor: Ludwig Rottenberg Ludwig Rottenberg Ludwig Rottenberg was an Austrian/German composer and conductor.-Biography:Rottenberg came from a German-speaking Jewish family in Czernowitz, the then-capital of Bukovina, which at the time was part of the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy... ) |
|---|---|---|
| Act 1 | ||
| Old Graumann, a retired civil servant | baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... |
Richard Korschen |
| Old Graumann's Wife | mezzosoprano | Marie Welling-Bertram |
| Grete, their daughter | soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Lisbeth Sellin |
| Fritz, a young artist | tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
Karl Gentner |
| Landlord of the inn "Zum Schwan" | bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C... |
Josef Gareis |
| A bad actor | baritone | Rudolf Brinkmann |
| Dr. Vigelius, a pettifogger | high bass | Herbert Stock |
| An old woman | mezzosoprano | Bella Fortner-Halbaerth |
| Act 2 | ||
| Greta, a dancer (alias Grete Graumann) | soprano | Lisbeth Sellin |
| Mizi, a dancer | soprano | Anita Franz |
| Milli, a dancer | soprano | Fulda Kopp |
| Mary, a dancer | soprano | Lina Doninger |
| A Spanish girl, a dancer | soprano | Frieda Cornelius |
| The count, 24 years old | baritone | Richard Breitenfeld Richard Breitenfeld Richard Breitenfeld was a German baritone who was a member of the Frankfurt Opera ensemble and was murdered in the Theresienstadt concentration camp.... |
| The baron, 50 years old | bass | Alfred Hauck |
| The chevalier, 30-35 years old | tenor | Erik Wirl |
| Fritz | tenor | Karl Gentner |
| Act 3 | ||
| Fritz | tenor | Karl Gentner |
| Tini (alias Grete Graumann) | soprano | Lisbeth Sellin |
| Rudolf, a doctor, Fritz's friend | high bass or baritone | Walter Schneider Walter Schneider (bass) -Professional career:Born in Bretzenheim, his initial musical ambition was to become a conductor, but in the end he decided on a singing career. His first engagement was at the Cologne Opera in 1903. During the 1904-1905 season he was engaged at the Stadttheater in Aachen... |
| Dr. Vigelius | high bass | Herbert Stock |
| An actor | baritone | Rudolf Brinkmann |
| First chorus member | tenor | Otto Weindel |
| Second chorus member | bass | Carl Bauermann |
| Waitress | mezzosoprano | Alma Wendorf |
| A dubious individual | tenor | Hermann Schramm |
| A policeman | bass | Wilhelm Drumm |
| A servant | speaking role | |
Instrumentation
The orchestral score requires:- 3 fluteWestern concert fluteThe Western concert flute is a transverse woodwind instrument made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute. A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist, flutist, or flute player....
s (3rd doubling piccoloPiccoloThe piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
), 2 oboeOboeThe oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
s, cor anglaisCor anglaisThe cor anglais , or English horn , is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family....
(doubling oboe 3), 2 clarinetClarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
s (in A/B-flat), bass clarinetBass clarinetThe bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet...
in B-flat (doubling E flat clarinet), 2 bassoonBassoonThe bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
s, contrabassoonContrabassoonThe contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon or double-bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower...
; - 4 hornHorn (instrument)The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
s in F, 3 trumpets in C, 3 tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
s, bass tubaTubaThe tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
; - timpaniTimpaniTimpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
, percussion (3 players), 2 harpHarpThe harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
s, celestaCelestaThe celesta or celeste is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. Its appearance is similar to that of an upright piano or of a large wooden music box . The keys are connected to hammers which strike a graduated set of metal plates suspended over wooden resonators...
; - stringsString sectionThe string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...
(violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
s I, violins II, violaViolaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
s, violoncellos, double bassDouble bassThe double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
es).
offstage: flute, clarinet, 2 horns, timpani, tambourine
Tambourine
The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
, harp, 3 mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
s, 2 guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s, 2 violins, viola, violoncello, double bass, piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
onstage (gypsy music): clarinet in D, cimbalom, 2 violins, viola, violoncello, double bass.
Act 1
Fritz, a composer, and Grete Graumann, the daughter of a poor retired officer, are in love. Fritz wants to marry Grete, but he tells her that before he marries, he would like to write a great piece of music and discover the mysterious distant sound ("der ferne Klang") which always haunts him. Grete tries in vain to convince him to stay with her. Fritz leaves his childhood sweetheart and goes in search of the distant sound.As Grete is returning to her house, she meets a strange old woman, who asks the surprised girl about Fritz and promises to help Greta, if she asks for it. Grete continues home.
Back at home, Grete's mother, Frau Graumann, speaks to Grete about the debts the family has accrued. Frau Graumann has decided that instead of borrowing money, Grete should get a job to help improve the money situation. Grete complains that her father drinks too much.
Just as she is saying this, Grete's father, Graumann, arrives with his drinking companions, an actor and Dr. Vigelius. Graumann has just lost his daughter to his landlord in a dice game, and they have come to collect the debt. When Grete refuses, her father becomes furious. Before he can do violence to his daughter, his comrades drag Graumann back to the pub.
To calm her mother down, Grete pretends to be happy to marry the landlord. But when her mother leaves her alone in the room, she jumps out of the window and hurries to find Fritz.
Grete cannot catch up to Fritz, and falls exhausted on the bank of a lake. She thinks of drowning herself, but then becomes conscious the beauty of nature at night. She falls asleep, thinking of their loving. The old woman, in reality a prostitute, appears again and promises to bring Grete a shining future if she will only follow her.
Act 2
Ten years later, Grete is the celebrated queen of the demimonde on an island in the gulf of Venice, where we find her in the famous dance salon, "La Casa di Maschere." But even through her fame and success, she still thinks of Fritz.This particular day, she promises that she will end the suffering of her suitors and decide on her next lover, announcing that whoever can touch her heart the most deeply with a song will win her. The Count sings "In einem Lande ein bleicher König," a sad but beautiful song, which the crowd applauds. The Chevalier counters with "Das Blumenmädchen von Sorrent," a bawdy song that the crowd enjoys as they noisily join in the singing.
As Grete is making up her mind, a stranger appears in the midst. It is Fritz, who recognizes Grete immediately and goes straight to her. He tells her that he has not found the distant sound that has been eluding him these past ten years, so he went in search of her instead and now wants to make her his wife.
While Grete is still in love with Fritz and would like to be with him, she decides she must reveal to him that she is a courtesan, and then asks if he still wants to marry her. At first he does not believe it, but when the Count challenges him to a duel, Fritz, shaken and disappointed, refuses to duel and departs. Grete, in her despair, falls into the arms of the Count.
Act 3
Five more years have passed, and Fritz has completed his opera, Die Harfe. During the premiere, the first act goes well, but the second act ends with an audience riot because nobody likes the music.Grete, meanwhile, has lost the protection of the Count and is now a common streetwalker. She hears of the riot and is concerned for Fritz. On the way home, she is accosted by someone on the street, and Dr. Vigelius and the actors, who are staying in a close by hotel, appear and save her from being molested. Dr. Vigelius escorts Grete to his house, telling her that he very much regrets allowing Graumann to gamble away his daughter.
Fritz sits at home, old and depressed. He recognizes too late that he has destroyed not only his life, but also his love. In vain, his friend Rudolf tries to cheer him up and reminds him that there is still time to rewrite the opera. Fritz tells him that he is at the end of his life and only wants to see Grete, whom he foolishly pushed away twice. Rudolf goes to look for her, but Dr. Vigelius arrives instead, bringing Grete.
Grete and Fritz gratefully sink into each other's arms. Finally the composer hears the distant sounds, which, it seems, were always within reach. He joyfully begins to write a new ending to his opera, but before he can finish, he dies in the arms of his beloved.
Recordings
- In 1991 Capriccio released a 1990 recording with Gerd AlbrechtGerd AlbrechtGerd Albrecht is a German conductor. He was a first-prize winner at the International Conductors Competition in Besançon at age 22. His first post was as a repetiteur at the Stuttgart State Opera. Later, he became Senior Kapellmeister at the Mainz Municipal Theatre, and Generalmusikdirektor in...
conducting the Berlin Radio Symphony OrchestraDeutsches Symphonie-Orchester BerlinThe Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin is an orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in 1946 by American occupation forces as the RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester . It was also known as the American Sector Symphony Orchestra...
and Gabriele Schnaut and Thomas Moser in the principal roles. - In 2000, NaxosNaxos RecordsNaxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
released a January 1989 live recording from the Hagen Municipal Hall, Germany, with Michael Halász conducting the Hagen Philharmonic Orchestra, and Elena Grigorescu and Thomas Harper in the principal roles.