Orchestral opera fantasies

[ewk]

Dear all,
Ever since I played the wonderful overture to Humperdinck's equally wonderful Hänsel und Gretel in a youth orchestra, I thought it would be nice to have a longer piece including more of the wonderful music of the opera.

Some time ago, I came across Hans Fried's wonderful, through-composed 20 minute "Fantasy on themes from Hänsel und Gretel" which is a fantastic addition to the overture:

(unbelievable it only has 500 views, I believe half of which are mine). I loved how this is not a mere suite but feels like a composition on its own, knowing it of course heavily relies on the orchestral parts from the opera but not only, but it's cleverly done. I really like the idea of having an orchestral piece that does not feel like a "best of the opera" (as with Maazel's "Ring without Words" or some of Henk de Vlieger's Wagner arrangements) or a mere sequence of nice passages, but really works on its own, is through-composed, probably also incorporating originally vocal parts. As if the composer had written an additional super-long prelude. Or a short symphony / tone poem using the themes of an opera.

When searching for orchestral fantasies from other operas, I found it surprisingly hard to find anything that matches the standard in this regard that Fried had set for me. Of course, there are countless orchestral suites from operas, but this is not what I was looking for. A quick search on this board did not bring up much, either -- a fantasy on themes from Humperdinck's Die Königskinder by Leo Blech (another assistant/pupil of Humperdinck's, just as Fried) was all I could find (it does not match Fried's, though -- probably the musical material is also not quite as charming as in Hänsel und Gretel). The only other comparable piece I can think of are the Symphonic dances from West side Story by Bernstein, although probably far outside our remit even though it's mostly tonal.

Of course, there are piano fantasies by Liszt and many others, but this is not orchestra (maybe one could re-orchestrate some of them...) and many are far shorter than Fried's 20 minutes.

There are other comparable categories that I perceive as equally enjoyable: e.g. with soloists, the "Carmen Fantasy" by Sarasate (and then Waxman), or Waxman's charming Tristan and Isolde fantasy. And then there are long orchestral passages/preludes in some operas that are long enough themselves – Tannhäuser overture including Venusberg or some of the Schreker preludes are part of this category. Or the Mathis der Maler Symphony by Hindemith, although outside or remit.

Do you know of any other orchestral opera fantasies, or even some that I could find equally enjoyable as Fried's?

Best wishes!
ewk

P.S.: Funny thing, I asked ChatGPT more or less the same question – it came up with quite an impressive list I was eager to explore. Turns out, not a single piece it mentioned existed in reality...

[tuatara442442]

I can think of a work in this genre that I have seen but haven't listened to yet: Walter Rabl's arrangement of Paderewski's Manru
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAJ5ancsM-o

[Jonathan]

Interestingly, there is mention in Liszt's letters of orchestral versions of several of his operatic Reminiscences - Norma is one (I can't check my sources at present as I'm out of the country).  Sadly, no sign of these had yet been located. Maybe they'll turn up somewhere?

[Tapiola]

Not sure if these suggestions suit your tastes, but Manfred Honeck made a suite from Puccini's Turandot, whose performance was recently uploaded to YouTube:

He also made a suite from Janacek's Jenufa.

[Alan Howe]

Not to my taste, but each to his own. It'd be good to have Honeck conducting the full opera, though - he's one of the world's best.

[tuatara442442]

I recall Honeck also made a suite from R Strauss' Electra. And one from Dvorak's Rusalka, I just discovered after a quick search. This kind of adaptions he made are usually collaborations between him and a Tomáš Ille.

[tpaloj]

I did a search on Hofmeister XIX which turned up a bunch of these opera fantasies. There are also many quadrilles composed on popular opera themes. For example:

• Grützmacher, Fr., Op. 33. Grosse Concert-Fantasie über Themen aus der Oper: Santa Chiara, von E. H. zu S., f. Violoncell mit Orch.
• Conradi, A., Grosses Potpourri a. d. Oper Die Afrikanerin, v. Meyerbeer, f. Orch.
• Wichtl, G., Op. 110. Fantasie über Motife a. d. Oper Martha v. Flotow, f. Oboe m. Orch.
• – Fantasie über Motive der Oper: Heinrich der Löwe, f. gr. (od. kl.) Orch. arr. v. H. Mannsfeldt. (I.V. dient als Direktionsst.)
• Lange, H., Potpourri aus der Oper: Zampa, v. Hérold, f. Orch.
• Wolff, C.G., Rhapsodie f. Orch. aus der Oper: Die weisse Dame, v. Boïeldieu
• Schreiner, Ad., Fantasie f. Orch. aus Massenet's Oper ,,Herodias".

Perhaps this list might help the op finding some of these pieces, and if there are any recordings of them out there...

[Ebubu]

There's Delius suites from A Village Romeo & Juliet (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsIZ6HjX7j8) and Irmelin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8leKYXjntSo)

And several Janacek suites (Cunning Little Vixen, Broucek's adventures, etc...)
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kBIEvdG8QdolLJHzA_YdD87AXrFoPJXiM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUGb0II8OxY&list=PLjMoXE4VR3wVvBohRFU4QuY80FSRMsfYm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sChBN9EqMX0&list=OLAK5uy_k69zrMM-0N6Clt2nvTjDKS73BdB0jbI9E&index=2

There's the Pelleas suite, which really helped me getting into the opera :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP2Hyo9ikRE&t=1263s

And of course all the Wagner suites (Parsifal, Ring, Tristan, Meistersinger...), and the Strauss (Rosenkavalier, Die Liebe der Danae, Elektra, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Die Aegyptische Helena), and even a very little known "Ariadne" Suite :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA8qqteDblQ

And to come back to Humperdinck, here's his suite from the little known Dornröschen :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAYMuSK0SfU

[tuatara442442]

There's the Pelleas suite, which really helped me getting into the opera :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP2Hyo9ikRE&t=1263s

Oh! This reminds me of the arrangement of Marius Constant, the Pelleas et Melisande Symphonie. That one was recorded by Naxos in their Debussy orchestral works series and at least on one other disc. There's a piano trio arrangment of it on MDG, too.

[Christopher]

I like Otto Nicolai's Fantaisie avec Variations brillante sur Norma (Bellini) for piano and orchestra (about 17 minutes long).  Quite a few versions on youtube.