Erich Wolfgang Korngold finally receives his due....

[brendangcarroll]

An enthusiastic and highly commendatory article about Korngold by esteemed critic Alex Ross, in the new issue of New Yorker magazine....

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/08/19/erich-wolfgang-korngold-the-opera-composer-who-went-hollywood

I have waited 45 years to read an appraisal such as this.

[Alan Howe]

His melodic gift rivalled Puccini's

A very dubious claim. How many memorable arias are there in his 6 operas? And how many in Puccini's mature 10? Of course, there's are K's orchestral scores, but even so...

The missing link is the Met, which presented "Die Tote Stadt" in the early nineteen-twenties but has yet to return to it. I cannot fathom why that opera is not as popular as anything by Puccini—its melodic writing is no less indelible, its expressive urgency no less intense.

I can. It's inferior to anything by Puccini, save his earliest two operas. Less memorable, fewer great tunes...

This sort of over-estimate of Korngold's stature does him no favours, I fear. Sorry. I believe this estimate is closer to the mark:

Korngold's fans would have us believe that these critics were harsh because they were in thrall to fashionable modernism; now that modernism has had its day, we can appreciate Korngold for the genius that he was. I'm not so sure.

Compared to other latter-day romantics such as Puccini or Richard Strauss, Korngold seems a slight figure. Far from being an unfortunate distraction from his "true" nature, Korngold's Hollywood sojourn suited him perfectly. He loved to immerse himself in a fantasy, which fits with his father's assertion that Erich possessed "truthfulness and modesty peculiar to the child, but also a certain childlike nature".

You could say the same about Ravel, another composer who never quite emerged from childhood. But the difference is that Ravel was fiercely self-critical, and his musical language is correspondingly personal. Compared with him, Korngold seems an endearing but somewhat self-indulgent man, who just happened to have an immense natural talent strapped to his back.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/ivan-hewett/4238665/Erich-Korngold-genius-or-mere-talent.html

In the final analysis I find Korngold to have written some wonderful music, much of supreme beauty. But I don't go to him for profundity. I love his VC (although it's now in danger of being over-recorded), but I'll take Walton or Barber over it any day. I mean, Barber's slow movement moves me to tears:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdRD6gEa9CY  (from 10:15)

[brendangcarroll]

Well, it is all a matter of taste. Puccini (visiting Vienna in November 1921) gave an interview durinng which he was asked who, of the contemporary composers of opera he most admired. He immediately said 'Young Korngold. He is the greatest hope of German music and has so much talnt, he could easily give us half and still have enough left for himself". Later, he declared the Mariettalied from Die tote Stadt 'miracolo' . I would rather take Puccini's view than anything Ivan Hewett wrote 10 years ago.  Besides, Korngold is NOT Puccini. He is Korngold.

In any case, if Tote Stadt is so 2nd rate and not as worthy as Puccini's over- exposed works, why do opera houses all over Europe keep mounting new, expensive productions? In the past year alone it has been staged (to sold out houses, by the way) in Toulouse, Hamburg, Dresden, Bremen, Wuppertal and La Scala, Milan as well as a touring production to 5 cities in the Netherlands! Still to come are Mecklenburg, Parnu, Munich (starring Jonas Kaufann no less) and Kiel.  And that is just this year! My spies in New York and Vienna tell me that new productions are in the planning stage to co-incide with te centenary of the world premiere of this opera in the 2020/2021 season. In addition, the US premiere of 'Die Kathrin' is scheduled for Chicago in 2020/21 and Violanta will be staged in Turin next year (its Italian premiere). Not bad for a supposed 'also ran'. Marcel Prawy often described the Mariettalied as 'the last hit tune in German opera'. But don't take his word for it - or mine. Take Puccini's.

[Alan Howe]

Besides, Korngold is NOT Puccini. He is Korngold.

Of course - that's obvious. However, it was the article to which you referred and which you said you had waited 45 years to read with such enthusiasm that made the comparison. Not I!

Puccini died in 1924. His opinion was inevitably premature: 'Young Korngold. He is the greatest hope of German music'.
'Young Korngold...the greatest hope', notice. But not, in the end, the greatest achievement in German music of that era (of the type of which Puccini would have approved). That accolade, surely, belongs to Richard Strauss, not Korngold.

By the way: I don't think it matters that Ivan Hewett wrote his piece 10 years ago. In any case, I'll take his view over Puccini's - why? Because Puccini didn't know what Ivan Hewett knows. Puccini didn't live long enough to give a full and final assessment of Korngold. That's why the great Italian only spoke of Korngold as the greatest 'hope'. And hopes, as we all know, aren't always fulfilled...

[Alan Howe]

Marcel Prawy often described the Mariettalied as 'the last hit tune in German opera'.

It's a wonderful tune, I agree. But how about the final scene of Strauss' Capriccio: so much more touching than Korngold:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZW2gekqT58

This - and his Four Last Songs - is the true farewell to great vocal writing in the Austro-German tradition. So much more than just a tune.

Oh, and by the way: I hold that Felix Draeseke was as great a composer as Brahms. So I'm evidently completely off my rocker. Don't take seriously a word I've written. These are just the ramblings of a man with an unshakable enthusiasm for another unsung composer - and one much more unsung than the widely-performed, recorded and possibly now sung Korngold whose music I have listened to and thoroughly enjoyed for years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kDOrpIr9AI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seWvE_ywIgU

[der79sebas]

Marcel Prawy talked nonsense most of the time and was a permanent annoyance to opera lovers here in Vienna. If you are in search for the last "hit tune" in German opera, take "Aber der Richtige" from Arabella. And as Alan Howe says: There is much more wonderful vocal writing later on, may I add several pieces from "Liebe der Danae" and "Lulu" to the list.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks for that confirmation of Prawy's silly remark. He was just plain wrong.

[brendangcarroll]

Oddly, I do not recall anything from Arabella or Lulu being a popular concert excerpt or indeed being recorded as a stand alone aria on over 100 recordings from 1924 onwards.....

Even more oddly, when I joined this forum, I did not realise that I would have to spend time defending the genius and reputation of Erich Wolfgang Korngold against those who which to denigrate his work or insist Strauss of whomever else is greater, more worthy. I thought this was a forum that celebrated those who were neglected or treated badly by the music world.....and for those who wished to support them.

As for Die tote Stadt...since I wrote here, a few days ago, I have discovered that another 4 opera houses (two in Germany, one in Belgium and one in Russia !) are planning new productions of Die tote Stadt in 2020/21.  Oh dear! Should I write and tell them how mistaken they are in wasting theirvaluable  time and resouces in staging this 2nd rate work, when they could be presenting operas by Strauss or Puccini....?

[Alan Howe]

No, sir. You are mistaken. This is a forum in which we expect a robust, but gentlemanly exchange of views - not the mere rubber-stamping of someone's enthusiasm for an unjustly neglected composer.

In the case of Korngold I happen to find your view an over-estimate. That you disagree is absolutely fine. You are welcome to make your case and I have enjoyed reading it.

I am glad to hear of the surge of interest in performing K's operas. It is long overdue. And I would no doubt enjoy attending them if I were able to do so. The fact that I cannot is, I know, my loss. However, I have lived long enough to know them reasonably well - and my conclusion is simply that, while thoroughly worthy of performance, I can't rate them as highly as you do.

In the end it's all a matter of opinion, of course. So I'm probably wrong. But so may you be also.

[ewk]

I hesitated to answer to this thread after I first read it, and I may be partisan as well (given that I like Korngold a lot).

So I won't comment on the topic itself, I just wanted to note that I found the tone of the discussion a bit harsh. As everyone will probably agree, it's all a question of everyone's musical taste  and while discussion between most knowledgeable people is the thing that makes this board so special, I think that appreciation of each other notwithstanding their views might be just as crucial.

Well I think the »cut and thrust« of the debate has cooled down a bit since yesterday but I still felt the urge to state this!

Best wishes, ewk

[Ebubu]

"As for Die tote Stadt...since I wrote here, a few days ago, I have discovered that another 4 opera houses (two in Germany, one in Belgium and one in Russia !) are planning new productions of Die tote Stadt in 2020/21. Oh dear! Should I write and tell them how mistaken they are in wasting theirvaluable  time and resources in staging this 2nd rate work, when they could be presenting operas by Strauss or Puccini....?"

Certainly no, but you could suggest to them to take this opportunity to present staged versions of Violanta, which so many of us are impatiently waiting for, rather than a 300th Tote Stadt !

[der79sebas]

"As for Die tote Stadt...since I wrote here, a few days ago, I have discovered that another 4 opera houses (two in Germany, one in Belgium and one in Russia !) are planning new productions of Die tote Stadt in 2020/21. Oh dear! Should I write and tell them how mistaken they are in wasting theirvaluable  time and resources in staging this 2nd rate work, when they could be presenting operas by Strauss or Puccini....?"

No, since Strauss an Puccini are done often enough. But you could propose them to do Schreker or Zemlinsky instead, which are also unsung and much better than Korngold.

[brendangcarroll]

Dear Ebubu

VIOLANTA will be staged at the Turin Opera in January 2020!  Five performances commencing January 21, sung in Italian with German surtitles. Conducted by Pinchas Steinberg, directed and designed ed by Pier Luigi Pizzi who designed and directed the wonderful performances of Tote Stadt in Venice about 10 years ago.

Cast not announced so far.

The Italian translation was actually done in 1920 by Puccini's publisher Ricordi (at Puccini's recommendation and suggestion) but the production was cancelled by Mussolini's government. This production in Turin will therefore be the Italian premiere of the opera.

[Kevin]

What is the assessment of Die Kathrin? Worth hearing?

[brendangcarroll]

Die Kathrin is a rapturous and very tuneful score that sits somewhere between Opera and Operetta.

A BBC recording of the whole opera is available on CPO, and the US premiere is finally in the works,, in Chicago.

Renee Fleming has recorded and performed the big aria from this score.

Check out this telecast  ....from a Prom Concert in London a few years ago.

https://youtu.be/FcZsdxTuIlY