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[17TH JULY 2022 CONCERT AU PALAIS PRINCIER, MONTE-CARLO]

17TH JULY 2022 CONCERT AU PALAIS PRINCIER, MONTE-CARLO

CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS
OUVERTURE DE FÊTE, OPUS 133
JULES MASSENET
CONCERTO POUR PIANO
CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS
LA MUSE ET LE POÈTE, OPUS 132
MÉLODIES PERSANES, OPUS 26
(PREMIÈRE AUDITION MODERNE)
JULES MASSENET
LA NEF TRIOMPHALE
EDITIONS MUSICALES DU PALAZZETTO BRU ZANE
(PREMIÈRE AUDITION MODERNE)

Two more works by Franz Xaver Scharwenka played by the Philharmonie Poznań and conducted by Łukasz Borowicz.

The Overture to the opera ,,Mataswintha".

,,König Witichis' Werbung" (King Witich's Courtship) from the opera ,,Mataswintha".

Two mp3 files in the downloads section.

This version of The Wreckers is really unsung:

Admired by Mahler and Britten and praised as a 'masterpiece' by Thomas Beecham, Ethel Smyth's opera The Wreckers – a psychological drama of 'wrecking, religion and love' – was the pinnacle of the composer's career.

With its sweeping musical soundscapes, passionate central love story and radical interrogation of fear, hypocrisy and mob violence, it's a compelling piece of music-theatre, whose heroine is a mirror of her fascinating, unorthodox creator. Glyndebourne presents the opera for the first time with its original score and French libretto. Robin Ticciati conducts an exciting international cast in this semi staged performance.

The Reiners' recording in the downloads section is practically identical to the new Hännsler recording.

Reiners
1. 14:29
2. 8:56
3. 7:32
4. 6:31

[From the Bonn Theatre homepage.]

I don't know about anyone else but I have been waiting a very long time to hear Alberto Franchetti's Asrael.

The opera will be premièred on 16th October 2022 in the theatre in Bonn.

From the Bonn Theatre homepage.

Alongside Giacomo Puccini, Ruggero Leoncavallo and Pietro Mascagni, Alberto Franchetti was considered a great hope for Italian music. His first opera, ASRAEL, to a libretto by Ferdinando Fontana, was published in Reggio Emilia on February 11, 1888 (largely at his father's expense). The premiere was so successful that Italy's largest music publisher, Ricordi, immediately got in touch and offered to publish the piece. In addition, Giuseppe Verdi recommended that his younger colleague be commissioned to commission a festive opera to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America. The critics, enthusiastic about ASRAEL, connected the name of the young composer with Meyerbeer, as whose modern descendant he was traded. Ironically, the country that was his special love - with GERMANIA he wrote the opera of the wars of liberation - then posed the danger for the last years of his life: Since Franchetti was Jewish, his music was no longer allowed to be played in Germany after 1933. After Italy adopted the »racial laws« in 1938, the old composer's situation in his home country deteriorated considerably; only the intercession of Pietro Mascagni, who was a member of the Partito Nazionale Fascista, prevented the worst.

ASRAEL was not performed after 1945. As in the case of EIN FELDLAGER IN SCHLESIEN, the performance here is based on material specially created for the Bonn production.

This production will be recorded by Deutschlandfunk Kultur and broadcast with a time delay.

The Alpine King and the Misanthrope will be staged in Aachen at the beginning of the next season.

Premiere: 11th September 2022.

Samson is on the way!

SAMSON Uraufführung einer Ausgrabung 11.9.2022, Großes Haus, Deutsches Nationaltheater, Weimar
Musikdrama in drei Abteilungen von Joachim Raff
Musikalische Leitung: Dominik Beykirch,
Regie & Bühne: Calixto Bieito,
Kostüme: Ingo Krügle

The recording is now in the downloads file with 3 mp3 files with a text file with cast list and synopsis.

My previous comment that the performance is "trimmed" was a bit of an understatement. How can one make an objective assessment of such a rare piece when its value is destroyed by additions and sometimes substantial cuts. Try following the opera with Litolff's vocal score and you will see!

[Ernst II as a composer of operas]

No mention of "Wildschütz" here"

Ernst II as a composer of operas
(From "Herzog Ernst II. und seine Leidenschaft für das Theater")

Duke Ernst II was one of the last representatives of the long tradition of composing princes. For five operas he designed the melodies and then had them elaborated and orchestrated by his court conductors:
• Zayre, grand opera, first performance 1846 in Gotha
• Tony, romantic opera, first performance in Weimar in 1849 (already in 1848 under the name "The Retribution" premiered in Coburg, was then rewritten)
• Casilda, great romantic opera with ballet, premiered in Gotha in 1851
• Santa Chiara, romantic opera, premiered in Gotha in 1854
• Diana von Solange, grand opera, first performance in 1858 in Coburg
While the first two operas were not successful, "Santa Chiara" can be designated as Ernst II's main work. For this the Duke worked with well-known musicians and poets: The libretto came from the successful playwright Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer. Gustav Freytag also reviewed it and rounded it dramaturgically. (He removed the fourth act finding it superfluous) Franz Liszt - at that time court conductor in Weimar - conducted the first performance on April 2, 1854 in Gotha. Heinrich Brückner created the stage design. Giacomo Meyerbeer received the score for final revision and also published the work for the Paris stage, where it was played several times at the 1855 Universal Exposition, and major houses took it on. The opera was performed a total of 50 times in major German cities and 60 times at the Paris Opéra alone.
The sheet music was published by Henry Littolfs Verlag in Braunschweig.

It has been trimmed!

The title "Sinfonie militair" appears on all the original parts

Possibly so, but she worked with handwritten parts for practically all concerts before publishers were willing to take her on. Even then she was expected to pay the costs. The handwritten score and parts of the first performance were most likely reused for the second the following year and she could easily have addded the title then. As she was very reticent about her private life I guess we'll never know for sure.

On Saturday 2nd April in Deutschlandfunk Kultur at 19:05 CET

Duke Ernst II. of Sachsen-Coburg and Gotha
,,Santa Chiara"
Romantic opera in three acts

Charlotte – Lena Kutzner, Sopran
Bertha – Marianne Schechtel, Mezzosopran
Victor – Patrick Vogel, Tenor
Alexis – Johannes Mooser, Bariton
Aurelius – Rafael Helbig-Kostka, Tenor
Alphonse – Tomasz Wija, Bassbariton
Herbert – Mikko Järviluoto, Bass

Chor des Staatstheaters Meiningen
Meininger Hofkapelle
Leitung. Philippe Bach

The Symphony No. 3 received its title "Sinfonie militair" on the occasion of its second performance in the spring of 1851 (no date given) in appreciation of the conductor's support for her music, having given the première the previous year.

The conductor of the Orchester "Euterpe" was Wilhelm Wieprecht, the popular conductor and reformer of Prussian Military Music.
(Source p.110 of Barbara Beuys' "Emilie Mayer - Europas größte Komponistin -Eine Spurensuche")

And there's a complementary set:

https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/charlotte-sohy-compositrice-de-la-boite-a-pepi/hnum/10881448

In English from Google

The White Lord or It's hard to scare ghosts today.
A comic opera by Jaroslav Křička in six scenes. It's the first recording of a successful work of the 1930s.
Libretto: Jan Löwenbach-Budín in a new adaptation by Max Brod based on Oscar Wilde's short story The Ghost of Canterville. The soloists, choir and opera orchestra of the Moravian-Silesian National Theater perform under the direction of Ondřej Havelka. Choirmaster Yuri Galatenko, playwright Juraj Bajis.
The work was staged and conducted by David Švec. A recording of the premiere performance on October 28, 2021 from the Antonín Dvořák Theater in Ostrava.
Music director František Mixa, master of sound Lubomír Výrek.
Prepared by Renáta Spisarová. Produced by the Creative Group Music. (3 hrs.)