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More Bru Zane productions: Three great operatic rediscoveries mark the season 2024-25: L'Ancêtre by Camille Saint-Saëns (1906) in Monaco; Mazeppa by Clémence de Grandval (1892) in Munich (27. 01. 25); and Psyché by Ambroise Thomas (1857-1878) in Budapest and Vienna. Performed in concert and recorded on CD, these rarities will perhaps have the same fortune as the gems unearthed in previous years, which, after winning over their first audiences, are now returning in staged versions to European theatres.

[Cornelius' Gunlöd - a complete orchestration by Waldemar von Bausznern]

I've uploaded a recording of the concert performance relayed by WDR on 12. October 2024 of "Gunlöd".

Cornelius' Gunlöd - a complete orchestration by Waldemar von Bausznern
I've attributed the music to Waldemar von Baausznern as suggested by the conductor Hermann Bäumer. The libretto was completed by Peter Cornelius but he only left piano sketches for the orchestration; mostly for the first act. Although Waldemar von Bausznern consciously strove to orchestrate in Cornelius' manner it is clear in acts two and three he indicated how Cornelius might have developed had he lived long enough to orchestrate the opera himself.

The Orchestration
The draft text was created from August 1866 until the beginning of October of the same year. By next spring the sketch was finished. Cornelius began the fair copy on April 22, 1867 and completed it on May 1, 1867 and read it to the von Bülows. The second fair copy was for King Ludwig and was presented to him by Cosima Wagner. The dedication of the work should read: ,,Dedicated in word and music to Richard Wagner", whose love motif from ,,Tristan and Isolde" Cornelius had used in his opera, but the text manuscript met with little approval from Wagner. After Cornelius' death in 1874, eight work books were found in the estate of the unfinished opera. Karl Hoffbauer (died 1889) completed the score as early as 1879 (380 p., 22 notation systems per page) and Ed. Lassen re–orchestrated this version. The premieres of this arrangement took place in Weimar in 1891, in Strasbourg in 1892 and in Mannheim in 1893. Afterwards the score was withdrawn by the arrangers. In 1895 the ,,Gunlöd" fragments were published (Gunlöd. Opera in three acts by Peter Cornelius. Piano reduction with text. Based on the original manuscripts of the poet composer, Leipzig and others 1895). As part of the Cornelius Festival in Weimar, Waldemar von Baußnern was given the task of completing the score in 1903. He supplemented, edited and orchestrated the sketch fragment and this was premièred in Cologne in 1906. Baußnern writes: ,,You should understand, first of all, that immersing myself in my task was a shining, fruitful experience, in which my love flowed with all my strength for the thoroughly genuine, many heroes quietly towering master who gave us his 'Song of Praise', as he himself called his Gunlöd with joyful pride, one of the most delicious blossoms of German art."

It was cancelled because funding for the chorus failed to materialise. The local authority is hard up and felt it wasn't justified. The manuscript and parts survived the bombing of Darmsdtadt in 1944 and had been restored for the occasion. The organisers hope for an autumn performance.

Deutschlandfunk Kultur 22.06.2024 @ 19:05

Konzert
Gewandhaus Leipzig
Recording from 15.06.2024

Carl Reinecke

Sommertagsbilder op. 161, Konzertstück für Chor und Orchester

Belsazar op. 73, Oratorium für Soli, Chor und Orchester
Anja Pöche, Soprano
Nora Steuerwald, Alt
Florian Sievers, Tenor
Bernhard Hansky, Bass
GewandhausChor
camerata lipsiensis
Conductor: Gregor Meyer

The opera will be broadcast on 1 June at 19:05 on Deutschlandfunk Kultur

A recording from 07.04.2024

Ethel Smyth
,,Der Wald", Musikdrama mit einem Prolog und einem Epilog in einem Akt
Libretto: Ethel Smyth

Eine Frau – Hanna Larissa Naujocks, Mezzosopran
Landgraf Rudolf – Samueol Park, Bariton
Jolanthe – Edith Grossman, Mezzosopran
Heinrich – Sangmin Jeon, Tenor
Peter – Erik Rousi, Bass
Röschen – Mariya Taniguchi, Sopran
Ein Hausierer – Zachary Wilson, Bariton
Ein Jäger – Hak-Young Lee, Bariton
Chor der Wuppertaler Bühnen
Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal
Leitung: Patrick Hahn

Given the time allotted for the broadcast I guess Schönberg's Erwartung will be included.
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A resuscitation job for Bru Zane then!

The original ballet music of La tentation from act one of Thais is on Naxos 8.573123 with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra under Patrick Gallois. All twenty four minutes sixteen seconds of it!

In Germany I can only find this one:

Gerhard Rehm conducting: Mechthild Georg (Mezzo-Soprano); Kurt Widmer (Baritone); Balinger Kantorei; Catholic Church Choir Empfingen; Wiesenstetten Church Choir; and the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra

Camille Saint-Saëns' Déjanire is on the way! To be released on 12th April 2024.

See bru-zane.com/en/pubblicazione/dejanire/ for details.

 BERTIN's Fausto (Rousset, concert on June 20th 2023 at the TCE in Paris) will be released in the usual form on 26 January 2024.

 "only sketches" in this case means a particella which is generally sufficient for an orchestrator to complete the work. Any volunteers?

Emilie Mayer's Overtures

According to the composer she wrote twelve overtures up to 1857 but it is known she wrote three after 1857, so as in some literature the she may well have composed fifteen in total.
Before 1857
Overture No 2 in D major
Overture No 3 in C major
Overture in D minor
Overture in C minor (only sketches)
Overture in E major (subsequently used as the Overture to the singspiel Die Fischerin.
After 1857
Overture to Faust, op. 46
Ouverture serieuse (lost)
Overtura giacosa (lost)

The Konzertstück II für Klavier (linke Hand) und Orchester will be broadcast this evening on Deutschlandfunk Kultur at 22:00 CET.

I have tried several times to find some information about the proposed releases of Déjanire and Lancelot but have been unsucessful. There's a short excerpt of the concert performance of Déjanire in youTube. There are now three excerpts from Lancelot in youTube, two of which probably make up the complete first act as they are labelled scenes I and 2. The third is an excerpt from act 4.

After the successful première of 'Lucrezia Borgia' in Milan in 1833 a performance at the San Carlo Opera in Naples was barred by the censor. The opera was first transformed by Romano Felice and Gaetano Donizetti into 'La cena della vendetta', then 'Elisa Fosco', as well as 'Adelina' before Donizetti's final attempt to convince the censor with 'Dalinda' in 1838 failed. In this final attempt Donizetti even wrote a completely new third act. With the fifth 'thumbs down' from the censor Donizetti gave up and 'Dalinda' was forgotten. Until yesterday evening (14 May 23), when the Berlin Opera Group produced semi-staged première of the critical edition by Eleonora Di Cintio published by Ricordi  to resounding applause.

The story is transferred to Persia at the time of the Third Crusade at the end of the 12th century.
Cast:
Dalinda - Lidia Fridman, soprano
Acmet - Paolo Bordogna, bass-baritone
Ildemaro - Luciano Ganci, tenor
Ugo d'Asti - Yajie Moreno Garic, mezzo-soprano
Six other male characters
Chorus & Orchestra of the Berlin Opera Group
Conducted by Felix Krieger
How much of Lucrezia survived the changes, omissions, end expansions demanded by the censor I cannot say. I feel the result is a fully fledged Donizetti opera that can stand the competition from Lucrezia Borgia.