S. Wagner: An Allem ist Hutchen schuld

[Revilod]

Do you know what I mean when I say "Sonnenflammen" gets better and better, Alan? Listening purely as music, Disc 2 has most of the work's best passages.

[Alan Howe]

I'm afraid I don't, no. It's probably me. I want more from an opera than 'pure music'. I find the same, ultimately, with Schreker and Zemlinsky. Their Italian contemporaries wrote so much more gratefully for the voice...

[adriano]

Right, Alan, I am of the same opinion! :-)

[Alan Howe]

...which is why I've been so grateful for your advice in exploring the Italian repertoire...

[adriano]

Thanks, Alan, and if you have more questions, just let me know 

[Alan Howe]

Thanks! So which other composers/operas should I consider?

[adriano]

Oh dear, I don't remember what already was the talk about... Did we discuss about some verismo operas? I would prefer you asking me specifically... I think we already discussed Giordano, Mascagni and Leoncavallo...
And don't neglect Respighi's less-known Operas like Belfagor, the lushy Semirama, Marie-Victoire (French libretto!) - or even his very early ones Re Enzo - or the two shorter ones I have recorded: Lucrezia and Sleeping Beauty.
But we could switch over one day to more unsung French operas, like the ones by Sylvio Lazzari (6 operas), Henri Rabaud (5 operas), Guy Ropartz (1 opera) and Eugène Ysaÿe (1 opera), etc.
Lazzari is strong music, listen to the recording of his Symphony I have made long ago - it's (unfortunately) available in full on YouTube... but the CD has been deleted...

[Alan Howe]

Thanks: I'm going to start a new thread...

[gene schiller]

If you can...try and find a recording of S. Wagner's "An Allem ist Hutchen Schuld"  - a live performance from Hagen (1997).  No one writes better for the voice (that is, no 20th century German composer) than Siegfried Wagner.  And Anneli Pfeffer, as Katherlieschen, is as good as it's ever going to get.  Don't take my word for it...to quote from Thomas Luys of Opera Magazine - the audience was thrilled with Ms. Pfeffer, "who raised the part of Katherlieschen into the soprano heaven with her bell-like tones." 
Regarding CPO's "Sonnenflammen" - I wish I could be more enthusiastic, but Siegfried Kohler's live concert performance from Wiesbaden is far more exciting; once you adjust your ears to the obvious sonic limitations, you can appreciate Kohler's exemplary pacing, along with thrilling contributions from Gerlinde Lorenz (Iris) and Sylvia Meinardus as the Temple Dancer.
"Der Friedensengel" is available from Living Stage, in a world-class performance featuring soprano Hanne Lore-Kuhse; Act 2 is a knockout!

[kolaboy]

Perhaps some enterprising label should cobble together a "Siegfried Without words" release...

[Revilod]

Thanks for pointing me towards the Siegfried Kohler version of "Sonnenflammen", Mr Schiller (and for your assessment of S.W.'s skill at writing for the voice). I was pretty impressed by the CPO recording in itself but can believe it could be improved upon.

On a long car journey today I listened again to virtually the whole of "Sonnenflammen" and I do think it's a wonderful piece. It is so rich melodically...and often diatonically so making the ideas not too difficult to assimilate. Both the orchestral music and the vocal lines are built on the same music so that the opera is integrated in the manner of "Hansel and Gretel". It's reminiscent of operas by composers who tried to combine the best feature of Italian (or French) opera (diatonic melodiousness) with the best feature of German opera (rigorous thematic or motivic argument in the orchestral writing).....some of D'Albert's operas, Charpentier's "Louise, for example. German opera is usually a bit more difficult to get to grips with than Italian or French opera and "Sonnenflammen", like most operas, is a bit uneven but do persevere!

[Alan Howe]

I have to disagree, I'm afraid - at least about the vocal writing. Charpentier's Louise is at the opposite end of the spectrum from, say, Sonnenflammen: it's attractive and memorable in a way that SW doesn't even approach. The problem with SW's operas is that they often sound like extended orchestral works with vocal obligato. They must be extremely ungrateful to sing - and, of course, the fact that we don't have any recordings with top-flight singers doesn't help. Whereas with Louise, we can hear, for example, Ileana Cotrubas and Placido Domingo (unidiomatic, but glorious). Perhaps when someone persuades Jonas Kaufmann et al to sing SW I might change my mind. A great voice can make anything worth listening to...

As for the comparison with Humperdinck's great fairy-tale opera - well, there just isn't any. I can hear its tunes in my head here and now. I can't say that of Sonnenflammen, I'm afraid...

[Alan Howe]

No one writes better for the voice (that is, no 20th century German composer) than Siegfried Wagner

Erm, Richard Strauss? What did SW write that can be compared with the Four Last Songs? Or the great closing Trio from Rosenkavalier?

[Gareth Vaughan]

As a singer I can categorically say that Richard Strauss writes wonderfully for the voice. His songs are a joy to perform. I have never sung any Siegfried Wagner, however, so I cannot compare. But, as they say over the border, "I hae me doots."

[Revilod]

Well, my head if full of tunes from "Sonnenflammen". Maybe they don't stand out as they do in "Hansel" and there is no real equivalent of "Depuis le Jour" but they are there, both in the vocal and the orchestral writing. To give just a few examples: What about the wonderfully strong melody that Iris sings when she dreams about her perfect hero (Disc 2, Track 1, 2 mins 41 secs). It returns in the strings later (Track 10, 6 mins 48 secs)? How about the extended version of the overture's first melody that Fridolin sings as he thinks of his home and childhood (Disc 2, Track 9)? What could be more grateful to sing than that?

As regards immediately catchy tunes, the ceremonial scene is full of them ( Disc 2, Track 5)...the one at the beginning, the tune sung when the courtiers mock Dandalo and, above all, the tune the chorus sings when they're cutting Fridolin's hair (Disc 2, Track 5, 10 mins 41 secs.)

And I've only scratched the surface...but then, I have lived with this opera for several months now!