Franz Schreker

[brendangcarroll]

THis month marks the centenary of the world premiere of Schreker's opera "Die Gezeichneten".

I have just written an extended article about him and this opera (published yesteday) which I thought might be of interest to some forum members here.

Here's the link:

http://www.momh.org.uk/exhibitions-detail.php?cat_id=5&prod_id=356&iotm=1

[kolaboy]

Very nice. Thanks for sharing.

[Alan Howe]

A really interesting article - thanks. For me, the test of good writing is whether it encourages me to go back and listen again to the music. I'm not the world's greatest Schreker fan, but as a result of reading this article I shall certainly be giving Die Gezeichneten another listen today...

[adriano]

Bravissimo, brendangcarroll 
During many years, Schreker's daughter Haidy and I were friends. I was one of the first talking and lecturing about Schreker here in Switzerland in the 1970's. At the time I occasionally performed as a singer, I gave in Zurich a full-Schreker recital of his early Lieder. My extended archive of Schreker documents (scores, books, 78's and LPs etc.) is now located at the Zurich Central Library.
There is an interview with Haidy on my website:
http://www.adrianomusic.com/resources/1983-Haidy.pdf
The coming season, there will be a new production of "Die Gezeichneten" at the Zurich Opera. The last one was in 1992, in a very intersting staging by Joanthan Miller. The conductor was Eliahu Inbal - but that is another story...
However I would not consider Schreker's "Die Gezeichneten" an unsung piece anymore...

[semloh]

Adriano, you are a marvel!! 

[adriano]

Thanks very much, semloh 
As you see, I do my best to promote unsung composers since ages... The same was promoting Respighi at a time only his Roman Trilogy and Ancient Dances were known.
In my audio/live/broadcast Schreker archive I have 5 more performances of "Die Gezeichneten", besides the ones officially issued on CD. And, in 1985, I produced on my own label a historical LP with pieces by Schreker, Bizet and Grieg, all conducted by Schreker. These were transfers from 78s of my own collection, including an unpublished "Die Gezeichneten" Prelude to the III Act of 1928. In the meantime, a splendid 3-CD collection has been issued on the Symposium label ("Schreker conducts - complete surviving recordings"), in which my rare item is also included.

[sdtom]

Adriano, you are a marvel!! 

I say it again

[Alan Howe]

Well, I said I'd return to Die Gezeichneten and I have done so. And my reaction's the same as it always has been: admiration for such masterly deployment of the orchestra, but utter frustration at passage after passage of vocal writing that has no allure at all. Of course, if better singers with more attractive voices recorded the opera, it might help; as it is one has to put up with shouting and yelping against what is a truly magnificent orchestral backdrop. Of course, this may be Schreker's fault (ducks incoming fire!) - but that's probably heresy.

[brendangcarroll]

Glad my article was enjoyed by so many erudite members here!

Regarding the vocal writing....of course Schreker (like Korngold, Strauss, Zemlinsky et al) composed for truly great voices able to penetrate and be supported by his massive orchestra.

Sadly none of the recorded versions I have do this score justice vocally  (the same is true of Korngold's "Das Wunder der Heliane" by the way)

One of the problems is that the big, important singers of our time do not want to spend the time learning and sinnging an opera of such difficulty which they feel they will never be asked to sing again - or hardly ever. So it falls to lesser talents to do it and they just  'sing the notes'.

I feel we are not actually hearing these works as they should really sound. When one reads the casts that originally sang these operas before the war in  Vienna, Berlin, Frankfurt etc - it is clear the wide gulf, between then and now.

I can imagine how it might sound in my mind however, which is why I will continue to champion these fabulous works.

Thanks to all for reading and commenting!

[Alan Howe]

That's the most helpful comment I've heard about the available recordings - thank you. The implication is that if as much care were lavished on casting as it is on preparation of the orchestral writing, we'd actually have something that was listenable. As it is, I just can't bear the majority of the singing.

Perhaps if a great conductor were to take on one of the operas he could persuade the world's best singers to commit themselves to a recording. Two examples that spring to mind are Karajan's Pelléas et Mélisande and Solti's Die Frau ohne Schatten. But those were decades ago now...

[der79sebas]

Solti's "Frau ohne Schatten" is one of the worst opera recordings ever, with totally inadequate singers (except van Dam) and a fully tone-deaf conductor...

[Alan Howe]

Oh dear, what a can of worms I've opened. I disagree totally - and, quite honestly, that sort of vituperative comment ('totally inadequate singers'; 'tone-deaf conductor') belongs elsewhere - not here.

So this is 'totally inadequate' singing from Domingo, is it?>>>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLW14CEAf70

Now let us return to the topic in hand. I apologise for the examples I gave (which are personal favourites of mine), although the point I was trying to make stands: Schreker needs great singers.

[adriano]

But it can happen sometimes that a (good) singer who had to learn a (difficult Schreker or Korngold) part since he is part of an opera ensemble, he is being contracted later on as a guest for the same part by other houses. Of course it's quite hard to learn such difficult parts - and frustrating not to have to sing them anymore later one. Once again, only agents and opera managers decide upon the destiny of singers and operatic repertoire. And many of that authoritative category also can make wrong decisions and ruin singer's careers. I have know 4 different Zurich opera managers, and could write a book about their wrong castings - from which quite a few singers still suffer today!

[Alan Howe]

Do you believe that there is a conductor of sufficient standing today to attract the best singers for a performance/recording of a Schreker opera? After all, there was a time when Les Troyens hadn't been recorded complete - and then along came Davis et al.... (and before him great conductors such as Beecham and Kubelik had flown the flag for that great opera).

[brendangcarroll]

There are two ideal conductors for this repertoire in my opinion : Vladimir Jurowsky and Marc Albrecht. Both formidable, both have a profound understanding of the style and musical profile of this particular strand of music history. Albrecht just conducted a superb performance of Korngold's Das Wuunder der Heliane in Berlin which was beyond my wildest dreams regarding detail, tempi, balance, phrasing and dynamics. It was recorded for commercial release later this year!