Tonight ( Saturday) on Czech Radio: Fibich's opera Pad Arkuna. See Operacast for details.
I don't know this opera... has there been a commercial recording?
Possibly- Worldcat only lists a recording or two of the overture though. Czech Archives note a broadcast, not yet commercially released recording of the whole opera (
archívních nahrávek Českého rozhlasu Zdeněk Fibich: Pád Arkuna Scény z hudebního dramatu o dvou dílech na libreto Anežky Schulzové. Helga. Jednoaktová předehra k opeře Pád Arkuna. Osoby a obsazení: Gunar, dánský šlechtic (Eduard Haken), Helga, jeho dcera (Drahomíra Tikalová), Absalon, její ženich (Václav Bednář), Dargun, jeden z kněží a bojovníků Svantovítových (Karel Kalaš). Hraje Pražský rozhlasový orchestr, řídí František Dyk. Nahrávka z roku 1952.
) and excerpts over the years between 1952 and 1982 that were broadcast together - not sure when, I put my search net rather wide. Will check again later, have to run :)
(might be the same one being broadcast tonight, I'll check and try to remember to have a listen!!) (oh, it says 10.8. It is from today, not 8.10 some other year. I did say "1930-2013", but it meant, well, broadcast 2013... got it :) )
Thanks for the info, Eric.
The opera was followed by an attractive orchestral work by Fibich: Vigilie Op.20. This was orchestrated in 1885 from an earlier piano duet work, presumably inspired by the Rilke poem of the same name.
Well worth a listen!
Fibich's magnificent overture to "The Fall of Arcona" (Pad Arkuna) had me eager to hear more from this opera, so I was excited when I noticed that Czech Radio planned to broadcast excerpts. I guess it was the choice of excerpts, and the fact that they were recorded for the most part in the early 50's that made the end result less than exciting. Declamatory and dead serious all the way, kind of a Czech verismo not to my liking.
The second opera excerpted, "Hedy," apparently another take on the Don Juan legend, had a lighter touch but still seemed very much in that verismo vein. The one piece that made the whole listen worthwhile was the ballet music from this opera: fiery, spirited, in stereo and what I'm sure is its only recording. Overall, I suspect that there is some excellent music in both operas (anyone who could write "Sarka" could do no less) but we didn't hear much of it from this particular broadcast.
I have to wonder if "Hippodamia" will be next... ;) Anybody have any idea if if that's been recorded?
Yes, it has. There is a good modern recording conducted by Jilek on Supraphon.
But beware: it takes up no less than 6 CDs, occupies considerable shelf space, and its purchase will impact upon your life for several years. I confess I found the thing very hard going. If you succeeded in staying the course, I rather wonder whether you would ever listen to the thing again in a single lifetime.
To my mind a far more successful piece is Fibich's Schiller tragic 3 Act opera The Bride of Messina of 1884. Again a very good recording on Supraphon. (I also agree Sarka is a cracker!)
Note that PAD ARKUNA is two operas in one. HELGA is the opening work (a one-acter), and DARGUN is a three-act opera which follows.
I've yet to work out how to do Hippodamia once in a lifetime and anyway the Bride is heading the procession of Fibich works in waiting. But I think there's loads of spoken bits in Hip I can Skip.
Once unsung composers are allowed to be heard, the field of composed music opens out towards a baffling infinity. So often gangs or individuals will tell us how gr8 one of them is but I have absolutely no doubt Fibich is One of the Greatest Unsung Composers. Like when you know listening to someone telling you a story that it will always be a good one.
QuoteI've yet to work out how to do Hippodamia once in a lifetime
Paul: I bought the full set years ago in Prague, listened to it once and, Fibich fan though I am, gave it away. The speech element (in Czech, of course) is very prominent and the ear naturally homes in on it. If you can't borrow a copy from a library or a friend, try listening to it on Spotify - they have the third of the cycle, Hippodamia's Death, online. Just search for "Hippodamia" in Albums.
if that bothers one, avoid all Melodramas by any composer- and Fibich wrote a lot of them- that aren't in a language you know and aren't substantially cut. Because that's what they are. It's hardly specific to that work!
Quote from: Paul Barasi on Thursday 26 September 2013, 22:33
Fibich is One of the Greatest Unsung Composers.
Not for me. He's not original enough. But I do like his music very much indeed.
I got the whole Hippo trilogy: 3 jewel cases in a red cardboard box. I do have a down on spoken stuff (enough to put me off Leonore). Maybe originality is an essential ingredient of greatness but I'm not altogether convinced once the music is divorced from its timeline. Sure, at first performance, originality had considerable significance (usually a reason for trashing) but if music is accepted as having enduring value then why should it detract from greatness if when composed a work wasn't especially innovative? As I understand it, the attraction of some composers who have a following here (Fuchs, Gernsheim, Volkmann) is their skill in originality avoidance.
... well, there's a... shot across the bow? What's the expression? I know I enjoy a fair amount of music by Fuchs, Gernsheim and Volkmann, have never found myself especially wary of originality (though I don't find it a trumping virtue in and of itself - neither did Schoenberg, an admitted musical conservative, but wth...) and that there's at least some music by Fuchs and Volkmann that I'd say in some ways isn't (...quite) like anyone else I can think of offhand (or I should say, since there's no such thing as originality except in the sense of relatively original mixtures of familiar things- well, that) (quite a bit of Fuchs' string quartets, for starters; Volkmann's B-flat minor piano trio, of course...- but... anyhow- a longer response to that odd claim would deserve its own topic.)
Of course, the more familiar one becomes with unsung music, the more original it can seem - as prejudicial accusations of epigonism somehow disappear into the ether. Nevertheless, an immediately recognisable personal voice seems to me to be a prerequisite for the elevation of any composer to greatness. I simply don't find that with Fibich in the way that I do with a small number of other unsungs.
On the whole I agree with you, Alan, but I must say that I find the first movement of his Second Symphony as arresting and individual in its ideas and sound world as, say, Berwald's aptly-named Sinfonie Singulière.
...which means that I must give it another listen!
@mikehopf: I believe Rilke's Vigilien was published in 1913, so the name would seem to be coincidental.
According to Operacast, Saturday afternoon (1:30 pm Eastern) the Czech radio station Vltava will broadcast "The Fall of Arcona" in its entirety.
Zdenek Fibich: Fall Arkuna. Opera in a prologue and three acts on a libretto by Agnes Schulz. Cast: Gunar (George Sulženko), Helga (Dana Burešová) Absalon (Roman Janál) Dargun (David Szendiuch), Margit (Elizabeth Poláčková) Radan (Eva Urbanova), Dolen (David Nykl), Jaroměř (Ales Briscein ) Rutan (Valentin Prolat). Opera Choir of the National Theatre in Prague, choirmaster Paul Vanek, and the National Theatre Orchestra in Prague, conducted by John Fiore. Recorded October 2014; radio premiere of the first complete recording of the work.
The excerpts from 1952 broadcast when this thread began didn't endear me to the work, but I look forward to a re-evaluation. And a world premiere, at that!
It's actually this evening, 19:30 CET, so I'll record it. Can someone else therefore record the Georg Schumann at 21:30 CET on Deutschland Radio Kultur?
I'l try to record Georg Schumann concert (if I don't forget about it).
Isn't that one coming out on CD soon enough anyway though???...
I've heard nothing about a CD release, but of course there could well be one. There was nothing in the progamme at the time to suggest a radio recording, let alone a CD.
I've recorded it and so long as it's got no fall outs I'll post it tomorrow.
Some confusion here between the Fibich opera and the Schumann symphony. Which one is coming out on CD and/or which has been recorded?
That's the problem with changing topics mid-stream.
I guess eschiss1 means the Georg Schumann. It's recorded but who knows when CPO will publish it. There are several things the public was led to believe would be published by CPO and we're still waiting. A prime example is Pfitzner's Die Rose von Liebesgarten from 2008. At least in the meantime we can enjoy the recordings from radio that forum members generously make available. All excellent stop gaps!
Thanks for uploading your recording of Pád Arkuna, BerlinExpat.
In September I have just bought in Bratislava's only classical left over CD shop "Hippodamia's" first part: "The Courtship of Pelops", but still have to listen to it...
Good luck, Adriano! I'm afraid I found it very boring when I heard it some years ago. I listened with a friend who had bought it in a closing down sale for a very small sum. Neither of us was impressed and I think he subsequently got rid of his copy (probably sold it on Amazon!). However...
I tried this very evening, Gareth, but you are right. Just could stand some 20 minutes - and the CD landed already in a box of give-aways to a second-hand seller :-)
QuoteThanks for uploading your recording of Pád Arkuna, BerlinExpat.
I do echo that; after hearing the work in its entirety I'm *much* more impressed. This version of the overture, for instance, was I think the best I've heard. (Heard directly after the Prologue in this version.) On the evidence of the music and the plot synopsis (provided with the upload) there's some real dramatic shading to the characters, including the villains. The plot (family secrets set against turbulent times) was compelling enough that, given a good staging and performance, I think it could hold the stage.
For the record ;) I did give "Hippodamia" a listen after I heard via this forum that it was available. Yes, it is a very long slog through a practically extinct art form, but I was not at all disappointed by some of the purely orchestral sections, and there were a couple of ensembles that are among Fibich's best. I admit, I did a lot of skipping through the words, but this is exactly one of those occasions for which that skip button was made...