Die toten Augen is an opera (called a Bühnendichtung or 'stage poem' by the composer) with a prologue and one act by Eugen d'Albert

Eugen d'Albert

Eugen Francis Charles d'Albert was a Scottish-born German pianist and composer.Educated in Britain, d'Albert showed early musical talent and, at the age of seventeen, he won a scholarship to study in Austria...

 to a 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...

 in German by Hanns Heinz Ewers

Hanns Heinz Ewers

Hanns Heinz Ewers was a German actor, poet, philosopher, and writer of short stories and novels. While he wrote on a wide range of subjects, he is now known mainly for his works of horror, particularly his trilogy of novels about the adventures of Frank Braun, a character modeled on himself...

 and Marc Henry (Achille Georges d'Ailly-Vaucheret) after Henry's own 1897 play Les yeux morts.

Performance History

Die toten Augen was first performed on 5 March 1916 at the Hofoper

Semperoper

The Semperoper is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden and the concert hall of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden . It is located near the Elbe River in the historic center of Dresden, Germany.The opera house was originally built by the architect Gottfried Semper in 1841...

 in Dresden

Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

 under Fritz Reiner

Fritz Reiner

Frederick Martin “Fritz” Reiner was a prominent conductor of opera and symphonic music in the twentieth century.-Biography:...

.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 5 March 1916 (Conductor: Fritz Reiner Fritz Reiner Frederick Martin “Fritz” Reiner was a prominent conductor of opera and symphonic music in the twentieth century.-Biography:... )
Arcesius, Roman envoy to Jerusalem	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...	Friedrich Plaschke
Myrtocle, his blind wife	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...	Helena Forti
Aurelius Galba, a Roman captain	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...	Curt Taucher
Arsinoe, Myrtocle's slave	mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...	Grete Merrem-Nikisch
Ktesiphar, an Egyptian doctor	tenor	Robert Büssel
Jesus	tenor
Mary Magdalen	contralto Contralto Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
Shepherd	tenor
Shepherd boy	soprano
Reaper	baritone
Rebecca, a Jewish woman	soprano
Ruth, a Jewish woman	soprano
Esther, a Jewish woman	soprano
Sarah, a Jewish woman	soprano
A sick woman	soprano
Arcesius' male and female slaves, reapers etc.

Synopsis

Set in Biblical times, Die toten Augen is a tragic drama involving a Roman envoy called Arcesius, his beautiful but blind wife Myrtocle and Aurelius Galba, a handsome Roman captain.

Recordings

• d'Albert: Die Toten Augen - Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra
  Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra
  The Dresdner Philharmoniker is a symphony orchestra based in Dresden, Germany. The orchestra was founded in 1870 and gave its first concert in the Gewerbehaussaal on 29 November 1870, under the name Gewerbehausorchester. The orchestra acquired its current name in 1915...
  
  , Dresden Philharmonic Choir
• Conductor: Ralf Weikert
• Principal singers: Dagmar Schellenberger, Norbert Orth, Hartmut Welker, Olaf Bär
  Olaf Bär
  Olaf Bär is a German operatic baritone.- Life :Bär received his musical training in his home city of Dresden, studying at the city's Hochschule für Musik. His career has concentrated on lieder and on the lyric baritone roles of the operatic repertoire...
  
  
• Recording date: March, 1997
• Label: CPO - B000042OED (CD)

External links

• Boosey and Hawkes page on the opera, accessed 11 November 2008