Your Dream unsung opera release

[Alan Howe]

Out of Draeseke's operas...

WoO 2      König Sigurd - Opera in 3 Acts after Emanuel Geibel's Sigurd (1853-7)
WoO 12    Dietrich von Bern - Opera in 3 Acts  (1877; revised by Otto zur Nedden, 1925) - renamed Herrat
WoO 13    Herrat - Opera in 3 Acts  (1877-9, revised 1885)
WoO 14    Gudrun - Opera in 3 Acts (1879-84)
WoO 17    Der Waldschatzhauser (1882)
WoO 22    Bertran de Born - Opera in 3 Acts (1892-4)
WoO 24    Fischer und Kalif - Comic Opera in 1 Act (1894-5)
WoO 30    Merlin - Opera in 3 Acts, after K.L. Immermann (1903-5)

...I'd like to hear how Wagnerian König Sigurd is. Otherwise, the only clue we have as to how his operas might sound is the magnificent Overture to Gudrun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ndiwsbEdDY

Here's some further information:

Felix Draeseke was one of the most important composers of his time who stood in the shadows of Liszt, Wagner and Brahms. He is today known to musically knowledgeable people because of his sacred music, symphonic works, chamber music and piano compositions. Even during his lifetime he had little success in the realm of opera and after his demise no "rediscoveries" were made. Draeseke wrote seven works for the operatic stage: the grand operas König Sigurd (King Sigurd, 1853-57, unpublished and unperformed to this day), Herrat (1877-79, which appeared in private edition in 1892), Gudrun (1879/82-84) and Bertran de Born (1892-94, which never came to performance), the populist stage work with song Waldschatzhauser (The Inn in Spessart, 1876/82), the one act comic opera Fischer und Kalif (1894-95, unpublished) and the music drama Merlin (1900/03-05, vocal score published privately). (Draeseke, by the way, and against his usual custom, intentionally avoided giving his operas opus numbers.)
   In 1878 Draeseke had experienced resounding successes with the premiere of his Second Symphony in F major, Op. 25 (on February 15th in Dresden under Ernst von Schuch [1847-1914]) and the repeat on June 22nd of his First Symphony in G major, Op. 12 at the music festival of the ADMV [Allgemeiner Deutscher Musik-Verein or General German Music Union] in Erfurt under Max Erdmannnsdörfer [1848-1905]. On November 22nd 1878 his Adventlied, Op. 30, after Friedrich Rückert (1788-1866) reached performance in Dresden under Friedrich Reichel (1833-89).
   On the 22nd of February 1879 Draeseke finished his second opera Herrat. In the summer of 1879 Draeseke's hoped for performance of Herrat at the Dresden Hofoper was cancelled (appearing later for the first time in Dresden on March 10, 1892 under the direction of Ernst von Schuch). This was a severe disappointment and a creative pause set in. Thereafter Draeseke then wrote his short discourse Die Beseitigung des Tritonus (Avoiding the Tri-tone) in which, for the purpose of avoiding the augmented second, the minor mode is not dealt with as an octave with leading tone, but rather as a sequence with leading tone reference between the tonic and dominant). In October 1879 Draeseke began work on the text to his next opera, Gudrun, which he was quickly able to finish. Then he turned to his Requiem in B minor for Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra, Op. 22 which he had long wanted to finish, but completed instead his First String Quartet in C minor, Op. 27, which was ready in February of 1880. Finally on May 1, 1880 he finished his Requiem. In the second half of 1880 42 Lieder, or about half of his entire song production, were ready. From May to July 1881 Draeseke composed his Violin Concerto in E minor (without opus number; the Adagio from it first resounded in the Thomaskirche in Leipzig on April 11, 1886, played by Adolf Brodsky [1851-1929], but it remained unplayed in its entirety), and this has remained unpublished for the orchestral score and parts have been missing since the Second World War.
   On the 26th of October 1881 the Requiem in B minor, Op. 22 was premiered in Dresden by the Dreyssig Sing-Akademie under Adolf Blassmann (1823-91) and has proven to be one of the most succesfully permanent and worthwhile works of Draeseke. At the beginning of the year the 22 year old Frida Neuhaus (1859-1942) became his student at the Rollfuss Academy. She was soon his favorite student and much later (on May 16, 1894) she became his wife.
   Draeseke really did not want to begin setting the text of his Gudrun before Herrat had reached the stage. Aside from this, August Klughardt (1847-1902) had just recently come out with a Gudrun opera. But there was more. Erich Roeder summarizes it in his study Felix Draeseke. Der Lebens- und Leidensweg eines deutschen Meisters, Vol. II (Berlin, 1937):

"Ernst von Schuch, who lived in his neighborhood, awakened new hopes in him. So that something from his Gudrun might be given, Draeseke immediately produced his overture. This, like the overture to Sigurd in its day, came into being before the rest of the opera was finished (and this explains the absence in it of the truly affecting melody for 'Nichts soll mich von Herweg scheiden' ('Nothing shall part me from Herweg'). Draeseke completed it as if possessed and finished it a period of eight days and eight nights. Schuch was caught off guard by this, even more so since the work displays considerable formal dimensions and requires a truly large orchestra.
The 'Gudrun' Overture is Draesekes most handsome opera prelude, a New German parallel to that for 'Euryanthe'. It presents itself like a magnificent nordic ballad. One hears the roll of eternal sea and the roar from windy cliffs. One feels the suffering of the daughter of the Hegeling washing at the icy shore, experiences her temptation and rescue. [...]. The introduction presents a preview of themes. A motive built on the fifth, followed by a chromatically howling challenge, places before the soul of the listener a portrait of Gudrun and her surroundings, defined by a tender F major motive. As the melody for Hartmuths declaration of love comes up it is met by the minor mode theme in 12/4 time of the Hegelings' song of vengeance, 'Einst erdämmert Tag dem Lande' ('Day once dawned on the land'). The exceptionally lively development section makes use of the call of the mermaids 'Gudrune, du Getreue' ('Gudrun, thou faithful lady') as a theme. The second thematic group is developed from Hartmuth's song of fervent love and climaxes in the declamatory melody of 'O bleibe mir nicht länger fern' ('Do not remain distant from me any longer'). The development then strives towards a fugato on the song of vengeance. In the recapitulation this theme is presented in a manner reminiscent of the Tannhäuser emulation of Berlioz's Cellini Overture and its boldly brassy presentations. At the climax of this compelling finale there streams forth in joyful A major the major mode presentation of 'Lache Gudrun' ('Laugh, Gudrun'). The happiness at the reuniting of the betrothed is illustrated in broad confirmation."

   After his summer leave Draeseke composed his Waldschatzhauser, finishing it and, according to Roeder, it is "a folk piece with song and dance, a dramatic fairy tale in singspiel form [in four acts]. Draeseke had fashioned it after Wilhelm Hauff's[1802-27] fairy tale of the Black Forest, Das kalte Herz (The Cold Heart), that is, the tale of the student in the inn." At the time Draeseke also busied himself with greatest intensity composing polyphonic canons and worked on Gudrun, which he was able to declare finished in November 1882, but completing the orchestral score only in the early spring of 1883 after a total of ten month's preoccupation.
   In the meantime the Gudrun Overture had been premièred at a concert of the Dresden Hofkapelle on January 12, 1883, conducted by Franz Wüllner (1832-1902), who replaced the ailing Ernst von Schuch. "Its success was exceptional!" (Roeder)
   The grand opera in three acts Gudrun is "dedicated by the composer to Freiherr Hans Bronsart von Schellendorf out of lasting friendship, devotion and thanks". Since Ernst von Schuch had suddenly lost interest in Gudrun, Draeseke had to seek elsewhere for a premiere. "Now there were two heroic operas laying before him. [...] By the urgent nature of the matter he thought of his friend Bronsart." (Roeder) Hans Bronsart von Schellendorf (1830-1913) had been director of the Court Theatre at Hannover since 1867 and was himself an accomplished composer. Bronsart insisted on several major changes in the work, which Draeseke would later admit to have found measured and just. Thus he was able to get the work accepted for performance and thus was the opera Gudrun premiered at the Royal Playhouse Hannover on November 5, 1884 under the direction of Kapellmeister Karl Herner (1836-1906).
   In July of 1885 the orchestral score, orchestral parts and piano/vocal edition were published by the Leipzig firm Kistner Verlag. In the same year there also appeared as an independent orchestral score the Overture to the Opera 'Gudrun', which has served as the source for this present reprint in study score format. It is without a doubt one of Felix Draeseke's most immediately compelling works.
Christoph Schlüren, 2004. Translation: Alan H. Krueck, 2004.
https://repertoire-explorer.musikmph.de/en/product/draeseke-felix/

[Gareth Vaughan]

Thank you, Alan. Very interesting. I would love to hear an opera by Draeseke - especially Gudrun.

But I'm intrigued -

Now there were two heroic operas laying before him

- I wonder what they were laying!

[eschiss1]

There's links to lots more information on Draeseke's operas here: https://www.draeseke.org/operas/index.htm.

Is WoO 17 lost?

[Alan Howe]

I wonder what they were laying!

Eggs-actly!

[Alan Howe]

Is WoO 17 lost?

It appears not. Michael Heinemann's contribution (in German) to the volume 'Felix Draeseke: Komponist seiner Zeit' is about Der Waldschatzhauser:
https://ul.qucosa.de/api/qucosa%3A21028/attachment/ATT-0/

[Rainolf]

Here is the score of Bertran de Born:

https://digital.slub-dresden.de/werkansicht/dlf/56802/

[MartinH]

Only two:

1) Karl Goldmark's The Cricket on the Hearth.  I play through the vocal score (badly) and there's some beautiful writing in it and some endearing tunes. Can't imagine what the scoring is like, but if Queen of Sheba is any hint, it'd be great. Actually, I wish some enterprising company would start a Goldmark project and record everything the man wrote.

2) Franz Schmidt's Fredegundis. I have the off-the-air bootleg recording, but a nice, modern, professional recording is really the only thing missing from Schmidt's library. But DVD versions of both operas would be quite welcome.

[Alan Howe]

But DVD versions of both operas would be quite welcome

With the proviso that they didn't perpetuate the ego-boosting stupidities of so many opera directors.

[MartinH]

Absolutely! 

[brendangcarroll]

OK here's my five pennyworth...

I would love a recording of BITTNER's Das Hoellisch Gold - his grandiose, lavishly orchestrated, highly Wagnerian fairy tale opera from 1916.

There is a 7 minute fragment of a 1931 broadcast conducted by Erich Kleiber no less that I have uploaded to Youtube which provides a mouthwatering glimpse of what we can expect.

If you want to read the back story (plus access that broadcast clip) I have provided it at the following website:-

https://www.momh.org.uk/exhibitions-detail.php?cat_id=5&prod_id=338

Enormously popular before 1933 in Vienna and throughout Germany, It could be a hit all over again!

[tpaloj]

Fascinating, great article. The vocal score is easily found online (IMSLP etc) for appraisal. Libretto digitized by Goethe Universität, too:
http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/15739

This catalogue entry indicates Schott had published performance materials back in the day:
https://tinyurl.com/ybpf2qf2

A search on Österreische Nationalbibliothek leads to an (undigitized) partitur – published, it seems?
https://tinyurl.com/ybzl989k

[Alan Howe]

And now to find the singers capable of singing this stuff. Woe, woe and thrice woe...

[Kevin]

And now to find the singers capable of singing this stuff...

That'll happen only in your dreams...

[Alan Howe]

Well, they used to exist, as we know.

Something of a tangent - but a relevant one: Ralph Moore, comparing recorded Ring cycles over at MusicWeb refused to include any from after the Solti/Karajan/Goodall era. Why? Because the singers aren't good enough. I agree. And if we can't find them for Wagner, there's no chance of casting them in Strauss, Schreker or Korngold, let alone Bittner.

A case in point is Rattle's newly released Die Walküre which, apart from Skelton's magnificent Siegmund (fortunately to be heard elsewhere), is an absolute shriek and wobble fest. AVOID!

So, we dream on...

[Kevin]

Ralph Moore makes me uneasy. He's said some disparaging things about unsung music when he used to write for Amazon. I'm very wary of him even though he seems knowledgeable.