Pfitzner Die Rose vom Liebesgarten from cpo

[M. Yaskovsky]

And I thought this was never to happen. Back in 2009! this was recorded at performances in Germany https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/hans-pfitzner-die-rose-vom-liebesgarten/hnum/3067331 I attended one of the performances. It's not the greatest of operas but the orchestration is very fine indeed! Hope this's as fine as I can remember.

[Alan Howe]

Yes, I spotted this too. Think I'll try it out...

[minacciosa]

I listened to this opera and though I didn't always know what was happening, I found it gorgeous, luminous and powerful. It's definitely something to which I will return.

[Alan Howe]

First impressions are pretty favourable; the idiom is post-Wagnerian with a touch, perhaps, of Humperdinck. The recording (dating from June 2009!) is a fine one, with some good strong singers and a fine orchestral response. This is going to be an enjoyable listen.

[minacciosa]

Heard it; it's simply gorgeous.

[Alan Howe]

Not much in the way of memorable melodic material, though...

[minacciosa]

I guess it depends upon how one defines memorable. I certainly remember it.

[BerlinExpat]

As you may have surmised I try to attend as many rarities as possible and sometimes there are too many to cope with. Some of these rarities make a lasting impression and I've even returned to second or more performances where the travelling distance and cost allowed. I only managed to get to the Chemnitz production of Die Rose vom Liebesgarten once, but it made a lasting impression. Since receiving the new recording I have played it twice and especially delighted we have a separate recording without stage noise and audience coughs that almost abounded in the Deutschlandradio Kultur broadcast of 2008. I've now ditched that for the new one!

[Alan Howe]

It's the sort of music I enjoy while listening to it, but find I don't really hanker after an immediate second audition. With the exception of Strauss, I think the post-Wagner tradition of (romantic) Austro-German opera is replete with what are ultimately second-rate works - certainly inferior to what was being produced by composers in France and Italy in the same period.

Anyway, I'm aware that I'm voicing a personal opinion here and that my strong preference is for more consistently grateful vocal writing than is evident in, for example, Humperdinck (with the exception of Hänsel und Gretel), Sommer, S. Wagner, Pfitzner (with the exception of Palestrina), Schreker, Zemlinsky Schoeck, et al. What composers of other nationalities seemed to be able to do was combine the advances of Wagner and Strauss with their own traditions to form much more attractive syntheses. So, I'll take, say, Charpentier's Louise over Die Rose vom Liebesgarten any day (ducks bullets....!)

Of course, to compare the ever-so serious Pfitzner with Charpentier's confection might seem to some tantamount to heresy; but as I listen to the latter, I am reminded why I listen to opera - Enjoyment! (There's a lot of Wagner in both operas, by the way - but look what the Frenchman does with it; Pfitzner merely warms over the great man's music. Siegnot, indeed - half Siegfried and half Siegfried's sword !!!)

[Alan Howe]

I'd describe Pfitzner's opera as a real hit-and-miss affair. Absolutely sublime sections seem to be followed by passages where inspiration flags and the (i.e. my!) attention wanders. I'm glad to have heard it, though - we really must be grateful to cpo for recording so much repertoire that no-one else would touch.

[Alan Howe]

..as a postscript I must add that US tenor Erin Caves is spectacularly good as Siegnot. I'd be amazed if he doesn't have a great career ahead of him...

[Mark Thomas]

I've at last managed to listen to this work, and I must say that the word which most comes to mind to describe it has already been used by minacciosa: luminous. Yes, I agree with Alan that it has its longueurs, and quite long longueurs at that, but at its best there is an ecstatic, transcendent rapture about it which I thought quite captivating. The Prologue and Epilogue have the finest music I think, where the vocal writing soars. In the two Acts between them I got the impression that Pfitzner was trying very hard to inject drama and rather overplaying his hand. Although his debt to Wagner is very obvious, that's true of almost all composers of his generation and his writing for orchestra is absolutely masterful even if the vocal lines in the main part of the work sometimes come across as ungrateful to sing. Like Alan, I think its lack of instantly memorable melody might militate against a very early return, but I shall certainly look forward to hearing it again, and especially the Prologue and Epilogue.

[M. Yaskovsky]

I particularly like the opening of Act 1, the Waldesrauschen. Certainly some sections take too long but I've the same feeling with parts of The Ring. The vocal part for the soprano (Minneleide) is for my taste very ungrateful, as if Pfitzner hates sopranos....