Fibich: The Fall of Arkun

[mikehopf]

Tonight ( Saturday)  on Czech Radio: Fibich's opera Pad Arkuna. See Operacast for details.

I don't know this opera... has there been a commercial recording?

[eschiss1]

Possibly- Worldcat only lists a recording or two of the overture though. Czech Archives note a broadcast, not yet commercially released recording of the whole opera (

archívních nahrávek Českého rozhlasu    Zdeněk Fibich: Pád Arkuna Scény z hudebního dramatu o dvou dílech na libreto Anežky Schulzové. Helga. Jednoaktová předehra k opeře Pád Arkuna. Osoby a obsazení: Gunar, dánský šlechtic (Eduard Haken), Helga, jeho dcera (Drahomíra Tikalová), Absalon, její ženich (Václav Bednář), Dargun, jeden z kněží a bojovníků Svantovítových (Karel Kalaš). Hraje Pražský rozhlasový orchestr, řídí František Dyk. Nahrávka z roku 1952.

) and excerpts over the years between 1952 and 1982 that were broadcast together - not sure when, I put my search net rather wide. Will check again later, have to run

(might be the same one being broadcast tonight, I'll check and try to remember to have a listen!!) (oh, it says 10.8. It is from today, not 8.10 some other year. I did say "1930-2013", but it meant, well, broadcast 2013... got it )

[mikehopf]

Thanks for the info, Eric.

The opera was followed by an attractive orchestral work by Fibich: Vigilie Op.20. This was orchestrated in 1885 from an earlier piano duet work, presumably inspired by the Rilke poem of the same name.

Well worth a listen!

[scottevan]

Fibich's magnificent overture to "The Fall of Arcona"  (Pad Arkuna) had me eager to hear more from this opera, so I was excited when I noticed that Czech Radio planned to broadcast excerpts.  I guess it was the choice of excerpts, and the fact that they were recorded for the most part in the early 50's that made the end result less than exciting. Declamatory and dead serious all the way, kind of a Czech verismo not to my liking.

The second opera excerpted, "Hedy," apparently another take on the Don Juan legend, had a lighter touch but still seemed very much in that verismo vein. The one piece that made the whole listen worthwhile was the ballet music from this opera: fiery, spirited, in stereo and what I'm sure is its only recording. Overall, I suspect that there is some excellent music in both operas (anyone who could write "Sarka" could do no less) but we didn't hear much of it from this particular broadcast.

I have to wonder if "Hippodamia" will be next...    Anybody have any idea if if that's been recorded?

[petershott@btinternet.com]

Yes, it has. There is a good modern recording conducted by Jilek on Supraphon.

But beware: it takes up no less than 6 CDs, occupies considerable shelf space, and its purchase will impact upon your life for several years. I confess I found the thing very hard going. If you succeeded in staying the course, I rather wonder whether you would ever listen to the thing again in a single lifetime.

To my mind a far more successful piece is Fibich's Schiller tragic 3 Act opera The Bride of Messina of 1884. Again a very good recording on Supraphon. (I also agree Sarka is a cracker!)

[EdGordon007]

Note that PAD ARKUNA is two operas in one.  HELGA is the opening work (a one-acter), and DARGUN is a three-act opera which follows. 

[Paul Barasi]

I've yet to work out how to do Hippodamia once in a lifetime and anyway the Bride is heading the procession of Fibich works in waiting. But I think there's loads of spoken bits in Hip I can Skip.

Once unsung composers are allowed to be heard, the field of composed music opens out towards a baffling infinity. So often gangs or individuals will tell us how gr8 one of them is but I have absolutely no doubt Fibich is One of the Greatest Unsung Composers. Like when you know listening to someone telling you a story that it will always be a good one.

[Mark Thomas]

I've yet to work out how to do Hippodamia once in a lifetime

Paul: I bought the full set years ago in Prague, listened to it once and, Fibich fan though I am, gave it away. The speech element (in Czech, of course) is very prominent and the ear naturally homes in on it. If you can't borrow a copy from a library or a friend, try listening to it on Spotify - they have the third of the cycle, Hippodamia's Death, online. Just search for "Hippodamia" in Albums.

[eschiss1]

if that bothers one, avoid all Melodramas by any composer- and Fibich wrote a lot of them- that aren't in a language you know and aren't substantially cut. Because that's what they are. It's hardly specific to that work!

[Alan Howe]

Fibich is One of the Greatest Unsung Composers.

Not for me. He's not original enough. But I do like his music very much indeed.

[Paul Barasi]

I got the whole Hippo trilogy: 3 jewel cases in a red cardboard box. I do have a down on spoken stuff (enough to put me off Leonore). Maybe originality is an essential ingredient of greatness but I'm not altogether convinced once the music is divorced from its timeline. Sure, at first performance, originality had considerable significance (usually a reason for trashing) but if music is accepted as having enduring value then why should it detract from greatness if when composed a work wasn't especially innovative? As I understand it, the attraction of some composers who have a following here (Fuchs, Gernsheim, Volkmann) is their skill in originality avoidance.

[eschiss1]

... well, there's a... shot across the bow? What's the expression? I know I enjoy a fair amount of music by Fuchs, Gernsheim and Volkmann, have never found myself especially wary of originality (though I don't find it a trumping virtue in and of itself - neither did Schoenberg, an admitted musical conservative, but wth...) and that there's at least some music by Fuchs and Volkmann that I'd say in some ways isn't (...quite) like anyone else I can think of offhand (or I should say, since there's no such thing as originality except in the sense of relatively original mixtures of familiar things- well, that) (quite a bit of Fuchs' string quartets, for starters; Volkmann's B-flat minor piano trio, of course...- but... anyhow- a longer response to that odd claim would deserve its own topic.)

[Alan Howe]

Of course, the more familiar one becomes with unsung music, the more original it can seem - as prejudicial accusations of epigonism somehow disappear into the ether. Nevertheless, an immediately recognisable personal voice seems to me to be a prerequisite for the elevation of any composer to greatness. I simply don't find that with Fibich in the way that I do with a small number of other unsungs.

[Mark Thomas]

On the whole I agree with you, Alan, but I must say that I find the first movement of his Second Symphony as arresting and individual in its ideas and sound world as, say, Berwald's aptly-named Sinfonie Singulière.

[Alan Howe]

...which means that I must give it another listen!