Marschner: Der Templer und die Jüdin

Opera 56

Marschner: Der Templer und die Jüdin

Soloists

Grosses Orchester Der RAVAG

Kurt Tenner

Marschner along with Lortzing (who will be next in this project) was the leading composer of German operas between Weber and Wagner. He is most notable for the gothic elements in his two most famous operas, Hans Heiling and Der Vampyr but his style picked up many elements of early Romantic music. This opera is his version of Scott’s Ivanhoe. It has a place in the footnotes of musical history because Schumann quoted an aria from Act 3 of the opera, in which Ivanhoe sings of the virtues of England, in his Symphonic Etudes. This was as a tribute to the English composer Sterndale Benrett, to whom Schumann’s work is dedicated.

I have heard this opera before but I was glad to re make its acquaintance. It is less distinctive thn the two more famous Marschner operas I mentioned earlier but on its own terms was very enjoyable. While it has its dramatic moments much of it is quite light in character, reminding us that early Romantic opera in German used folk like elements and simple choruses as a key ingredient. This was a very old recording derived originally from a radio performance so the sound quality was not great - I suspect that some of the nuances were probably lost. I made the same comment in relation to another Marschner operas - Der Holzldieb https://andrew365newpieces.blogspot.com/2025/12/marschner-der-holzdiebsol.html- in my 365 project last year. It would be really good to get some modern recordings of a range of Marschner operas - I rate him highly and would like to hear more of his work.

Kreutzer: Das Nachlager in Granada

Opera 55

Kreutzer: Das Nachlager in Granada

Soloists

Kölner Rundfunkorchestra

Helmut Froschauer

Konradin Kreutzer (not the person to whom Beethoven dedicated a violin sonata) was part of the circle of musicians in Vienna at the turn of 19th century and certainly knew Beethoven and, perhaps, Haydn.  He was a prolific composer whose work included many operas. This one, his last, is the only one to have maintained even the slightest toe-hold in the German repertory. 

It shows just how influential the works of Weber, particularly Der Freischütz had become in Germany. It seems almost that Kreutzer had used that score as a recipe book when putting together his opera. All the elements that define German Romantic opera are there - hunting horns, peasant choruses, pastoral scenes, lyrical arias and dramatic ensembles. I found the score enjoyable but not particularly memorable - except perhaps for the rather striking use of bell-like effects near the end of the first act. I suspect that there are dozens of operas of this type lying forgotten on dusty shelves in the back of German opera houses - the chance of revival now are extremely thin.

Schubert: Fierrabras

Opera 54

Schubert: Fierrabras

Soloists

Chamber orchestra of Europe

Claudio Abbado

Schubert was a prolific composer of operas - there are a least a dozen of them although the exact number depends on how you count incidental music and unfinished works. Fierrabras was his last completed opera but it was not performed until 1897.

Given the sense of the dramatic that Schubert brings to his songs it is perhaps a surprise that he didn’t establish himself as an opera composer. There is some lovely music here but somehow if doesn’t all hang together as a coherent drama. Perhaps one of the problems is that Schubert’s tendency to be prolix and unfocussed - the ‘heavenly length’ of the 9th symphony comes to mind. The choruses are extensive and so make the work seem rather like an oratorio rather than an opera when you listen without the benefit of the staging.  Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the work is the quite extensive use of melodrama (spoken word over music) in the latter part of the opera - I’m sure that Fidelio was an influence here but there are also echoes of The Magic Flute.

I do think that Schubert opera is a lost cause, delightful as some of the music is. But it is worth remembering that he was only 26 when he wrote this, his last opera. As the CD booklet which comes with this recording points out, this was the age at which Mozart wrote the first of his operas which has remained in the repertoire - Dir Entfûhrung. As so often one can only wonder what the music of a mature Schubert would have been like. Alas we will never know.

Mendelssohn: Die Hochzeit des Camacho

Opera 53

Mendelssohn: Die Hochzeit des Camacho

Soloists

Anima Eterna

Jos van Immerseel

I knew that Mendelssohn had written some early operas - though to speak of early works of a composer who wrote masterpieces in his teens seems slightly odd - but I had assumed that they were modest domestic pieces. So this took me by surprise. It is a full scale work lasting about 90 mins with a full cast, chorus and sizeable orchestra. It didn’t make much of an impact when it was first performed and indeed some of the criticism seems to have persuaded Mendelssohn that opera was not for him. That was a great pity because there is much to enjoy in this piece and it could have formed the basis of a significant operatic oeuvre had things turned out differently.

This is very much the Mendelssohn of the Octet and the overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream - light and airy with a real sense of style and rhythmic impetus. The Magic Flute is an obvious influence as probably were the early works of Weber. What surprised me most was the choral writing - this was much more developed and extensive that one would expect from operas of this period (other than in France). It pointed the way towards the Mendelssohn of Elijah is some of the grander elements, though it never became sentimental in the way that some of the composer’s choral writing sometimes become.

So quite a discovery. One which gave me a lot of pleasure but ultimately was the ‘road not taken’. Had things turned out differently I a well image that Mendelssohn would have taken a place alongside Weber as the distinctive voice of early 19th century Romantic opera.

Weber: Silvana

Opera no 52

Weber: Silvana

Soloists

Hagen Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus

Gerhard Markson

As I said at the conclusion of opera 51 I am now turning to German Romantic opera. It is natural to start with Weber as Der Freischutz as that is really the foundation of everything that follows. But Freischutz did not spring from nowhere and this earlier opera (the first of his that has survived in complete form) shows the composer gradually finding his voice. I found it a charming work with a lot of signs of what was to come. All the elements are there: drama, comedy, melodrama, dance and choruses. It doesn’t quite have the maturity of the better known Weber operas but it is clear that even at an early age he was a master of the operatic form.  I included another Weber opera, Abu Hassan, in last year’s project https://andrew365newpieces.blogspot.com/2025/09/weber-abu-hassan.html. This was a promising start for this part of the project.

Handel: Rodelinda

Opera no 51

Handel: Rodelinda

Soloists

Raglan Baroque Soloists

Nicholas Kraemer

Handel is another of those composers to whom I came late. I wrote about this in last year’s blog https://andrew365newpieces.blogspot.com/search/label/Handel and now Handel, with Rameau, is one of the composers I turn to more than almost any other. 

I know several of the operas well but Rodelinda is one which I have not seen and I although I was familiar with some of the arias and the overture I hadn’t heard the whole opera before. What a superb work it is. Winton Dean in his seminal book on Handel’s operas says that Rodelinda is the third major masterpiece produced by Handel in less than twelve months, an achievement without parallel in the history of opera.

His enthusiasm for the piece is completely justified-  this is a superb work which shows Handel at his very best. Aria after aria proceeds with an almost unbroken series of pieces of the highest quality. We get all of the moods from tragedy through to exuberance and excitement. It all seems effortless - the Vivaldi in the previous opera seemed rather laboured by comparison - but of course it is Handel’s genius that makes it all possible. Some of the music is absolutely ravishing and expressive. Handel’s harmony seems straightforward on the surface but in fact it is highly sophisticated with some extraordinary chromatic inflections.

This is the end of this short exploration of Baroque opera.  I don’t find myself naturally sympathetic to the earlier composers but towards the end of the Baroque era Handel and Rameau in their very different ways are among the greatest of all opera composers and I return to them again and again. But the next stage of the project moves into very different territory. German romantic opera.

Vivaldi Ercole sul Termodante

Opera no 50

Vivaldi Ercole sul Termodante

Soloists

Europa Galante

Fabio Biondi

As far as I know I have never heard a single note from any of Vivaldi’s operas. Until recently they were more or less unknown territory but many of them have now been recorded. 

I didn’t have high expectation of this piece. I had in my head the cliche that Vivaldi wrote the same concerto 600 times and thought that it might apply also to his operas. In other words we were going to get lots of painting by numbers as Vivaldi turned the handle on his compositional machine.

To start with my fears seemed justified because I found the first few numbers very routine and uninspired, but the piece grew on me. Vivaldi introduced some interesting harmonic diversions here and there and there was quite a few few places where there were some unexpected rhythms. I felt that the slower and more lyrical music worked better than the faster sections. He has a real flair for the pastoral idiom whereas I thought that some of the faster, more extrovert music was way over the top - the singers, particularly the tenor., really struggled with some of it.

Stylistically the nearest point of reference to this music is probably the operas of Handel, but I don’t think that this is the same league. Pleasant at parts of it certainly it didn’t really make the impact that Handel at his best really can achieve. Handel is next in this project so a side-by-side comparison will be interesting.

This is the 50th opera in this project. When I started I wasn’t sure how how I was going to pace things but I have managed to get half way after only 4 months. So at this rate I might well get to something closer to 150 operas. Still I won’t set a target and I’ll see what happens - I’m not going to run short of composers or operas.