Felix Draeseke's Merlin

[tpaloj]

I'm happy to present here the score & audio of Felix Draeseke's Overture to his last opera "Merlin". This opera which, like the rest of Draeseke's operas, did not find its way into established repertoire, but at least it was premiered (how successful was the premiere?) in 1906. For this opera Draeseke adapted the libretto from Karl Immermann's 1831 Merlin – an intriguing and uncommon subject for the opera to be sure.

I found this overture a thrilling one, with the usual clever and imaginative handling of orchestral color and contrapuntal expertise by Draeseke. I especially love the way the themes are woven together for the serene and accomplished ending. Sound mixing is not my expertise but I hope it will be ok to listen to. Notating the score was not easy, this being Draeseke, but it proved a good challenge.


YOUTUBE: Link

LIBRETTO & VOCAL SCORE: Link
IMMERMANN'S MERLIN: Link


PS. I had ordered scans of the printed libretto of the opera from SLUB a few weeks ago, which has already been mirrored on IMSLP. It might prove useful reading for those who are interested in the fuller content of this opera.

[Alan Howe]

It is great to hear this major piece of late Draeseke. It demonstrates very clearly the composer's radical idiom, clearly influenced by but going quite a bit beyond Wagner. Although he's my favourite composer, I doubt whether he'll ever be popular - there's so much going on in his music.

The late great Alan Krueck, expert in all things Draeseke, would have loved this and would have enjoyed explicating its inner workings and special virtues.

Thanks, Tuomas.

[tpaloj]

Thank you Alan, Draeseke is a fascinating composer and I believe it's worthwhile to keep pushing his music against the prevailing odds. Perhaps at some point in the future the same consideration might be given to his operas that have recently been given to Raff's, for example?