Norbert SCHULTZE (1911-2002)
Schwarzer Peter (1936) [42.41]
Anneliese Rothenberger (soprano) – Erika; Gerhard Unger (tenor) – Roderich; Heinz Hoppe (baritone) – King Hans; Toni Blankenheim (bass) – King Klaus; Hermann Prey (baritone) – Minstrel; Alice Oelke (contralto) – Nurse; Hans-Joachim Kulenkampf – Narrator
RIAS Chamber Choir: Schöneberger Sängerknaben
FFB Orchestra/Norbert Schultze
rec. Berlin Zehlendorf Gemeindehaus, 31 August and 1 September 1964
WARNER CLASSICS 2564 528921 [42.41]
On a number of occasions I have had cause to complain about the cheeseparing
presentation of reissues in this ‘Cologne Collection’ series:
inadequate or non-existent texts, synopses, or even the most basic information
about the often rare works presented. Despite all this Warner Classics
have surpassed themselves here. There is only one column in the booklet
in English, and that merely advertises the value of the issues in the
‘Cologne Collection’ without one mention of the composer,
the work, or the performance. There are two pages in German only which
give some further details of the composer and the history of the opera,
but not a word about the plot or the music. This is ridiculous in a release
which presumably is intended for the international market, and must rule
acquisition of this disc totally out of consideration for anyone whose
command of German is insufficient to enable them to follow the lyrics
and spoken dialogue presented. Even the track-listing - 35 of them, only
one over three minutes in duration - give no reference to where the individual
items fit into the whole, although given the short duration of the disc
I imagine that we are being given only excerpts rather than the whole
work. This impression is reinforced by the narration which connects the
individual numbers, delivered in a confidential tone close to the microphone.
We are not even given the range of the individual featured voices, although
they are well enough known.
We really do need guidance here, since I can find no reference either
to Schultze or this work in my editions of such compendious works of reference
as the Viking Guide to Opera or Kurt Gänzl’s Musical
Theatre on Record. The recording was presumably issued originally
in 1964, but the 1966 edition of the Stereo Record Guide makes
no mention of it so I imagine that any release that may have entered the
international catalogues would have been very short-lived. The German
booklet note informs us that the composer is principally famous as the
composer of Lili Marleen and that this children’s opera
was first performed in 1936. Wikipedia gives us more information, but
the extensive article there is in German only.
The idiom of the music is rather in the style of Kurt Weill or Carl Orff,
with plenty of work for the narrator to do including some Sprechstimme-style
declamation over music. One presumes that the composer obtains the results
he wants from his performers, who include some major names although none
of them are precisely stretched by what they are asked to do. There are
plenty of stage effects, huzzah-ing crowds and the like, but what they
are cheering about remains as much of a mystery as the significance of
the onomatopoeic words of the songs. Those who like Orff’s Der
Mond, for example, will enjoy this opera; but those whose German
is not totally fluent will be restricted to treating the music as a genial
sort of background, among which Hermann Prey’s delivery of his lullaby
(track 7) has a melodic charm which positively reeks of Lehár,
although it is only just over two minutes long. The recording places the
voices very far forward, although the orchestra remains well in the picture.
This sort of presentation of an obscure work, however, is not good enough.
If Warner were to make a text and translation — or at the very least
a synopsis — available online, it would at least be something. Otherwise
I am afraid this reissue fails to match up to the claims of historic importance
made for the ‘Cologne Classics’ series.
Paul Corfield Godfrey
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