Fom Mahler to 1933, Part II.

Fom Mahler to 1933, Half II.

This Week in Classical Music: January 9, 2023.  German and Austrian (Jewish) Music from Mahler to 1933, Half II.  In our earlier submit, we promised to play some music of the Austrian-German, largely Jewish composers whose careers flourished throughout the first third of the 20^th century after which had been fully upended by the Nazis.   There have been 9 of them, not counting Mahler himself, and we chosen three for this entry: Franz Schreker, Egon Wellesz, and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.  All three, whereas fashionable within the musical idiom, didn’t settle for Schoenberg’s atonality and wrote in a considerably flowery, Romantic type. We’ll begin with two excerpts from Schreker’s opera Der ferne Klang, which premiered in Frankfurt in 1912.  This was Schreker’s breakthrough opera, staged in Germany a whole lot of occasions.  Schreker’s reputation waned within the mid-20s, as new operas within the zeitoper type, an angular German model of Italian verismo, turned trendy.  Nonetheless, he was a extremely esteemed composer and trainer when the Nazis got here to energy in 1933.  Then, virtually in a single day, his music was banned, and he was dismissed from the Prussian Academy of Arts.  With out means to help himself (his best triumphs occurred throughout the interval of hyperinflation), he suffered a stroke in December of 1933 and died in March of 1934, two days earlier than his 56^th birthday.  Michael Haas rightly calls him the primary sufferer of Nazism.  Right here’s Nachtstück, an interlude from Act 3 of Der ferne Klang.  It’s carried out by the Royal Swedish Orchestra below the route of Lawrence Renes.  And right here is the ultimate scene, Grete! Horst Du den Ton? (Do you hear the sound?) with the tenor Thomas Moser and soprano Gabriele Schnaut.  The scream on the finish reminds one of many remaining moments of Puccini’s Tosca, written 12 years earlier.  Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra is performed by Gerd Albrecht.

Subsequent, we’ll flip to Egon Wellesz, whose life, luckily, was not as tragic as that of a lot of his Jewish contemporaries: he stayed in Vienna until Anschluss after which emigrated to England, the place his life wasn’t simple (he was interned for some time as an “enemy alien”) however the place he ultimately constructed a profession as an professional in Byzantine music and trainer.  Nevertheless, he was forgotten as a composer,  which is a pity, as you possibly can decide for your self.  Right here’s Wellesz’s Idyllen, op.21, 5 quick items for piano within the impressionistic type, written after poems by Stefan George.  It’s carried out by Margarete Babinsky.  And right here is his String Quartet no. 6, op.64, composed in England in 1947.  The primary a number of bars remind us of the well-known 4^th motion of Shostakovich’s Quartet no. 8 from 1960.  It’s carried out by Artis-Quartett Wien.

Lastly, most likely essentially the most well-known of the three, Erich Wolfgang Korngold.  Regardless that he’s higher recognized than a lot of his contemporaries, he additionally suffered tremendously from Nazism.  A baby prodigy and essentially the most well-known composer of the pre-1933 Austro-German music world, he’s now largely remembered for the music he wrote for Hollywood movies, creating the so-called “Hollywood sound.”  Through the 20 years resulting in the Nazi takeover, the German-speaking world was mad about operas and the younger Korngold was on the high of the sphere.  Operas by Zemlinksy, Schreker, Wellesz, Krenek’s Jonny spielt auf, and d’Albert’s Tiefland had been staged a whole lot of occasions a 12 months all throughout Germany.  Korngold’s Die tote Stadt, written when the composer was 23, was essentially the most profitable opera of its time.  Following his earlier successes, Die tote Stadt was so anticipated that it had two simultaneous premieres, one in Hamburg and one other in Cologne, the place Otto Klemperer was the conductor.  Right here is Elisabeth Schwarzkopf singing the aria Glück das mir verb lie (Happiness that remained) from Die tote Stadt.  Hamburg Rundfunkorchester is performed by Wilhelm Schüchter.  And right here Renée Fleming is doing at the very least pretty much as good a job within the aria Ich ging zu ihm (I went to him) from Das Wunder der Heliane, from 1927, which Korngold thought-about his greatest composition.  The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra is performed by Gianandrea Noseda.