Carl Maria von WEBER (1786-1826)
Peter Schmoll und seine Nachbarn, Comic Opera in Two Acts
Paul Armin Edelmann: Peter Schmoll (baritone)
Thorsten Grümbel: Martin Schmoll (bass)
Ilona Revolskaya: Minette (soprano)
Sebastian Kohlhepp: Karl Pirkner (tenor)
Christoph Seidl: Hans Bast (bass)
Johannes Bamberger: Niklas (tenor)
ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra/Roberto Paternostro
rec. live, January 2019, Theater an der Wien, Vienna, Austria
CAPRICCIO C5376 [79:57]
Carl Maria von Weber was born in a small town in rural northern Germany in 1786. Although his parents took a keen interest in his education, he only started learning to play the piano aged ten. However, from there. young Carl Maria seems to have leapt forwards with sheer alacrity. Only one year later he was studying composition with Johann Michael Haydn in Salzburg, followed by lessons with Johann Nepomuk Kalcher in Munich. He composed his first opera Die Macht der Liebe und des Weins – which now, sadly, seems to be lost – aged twelve. Two years later his second opera Das Waldmädchen followed and was very successful, performed 14 times in Vienna alone. Weber’s extraordinary musical gift becomes clear by the fact that he had only started learning to play the piano four years previous. Aged fifteen, he set out to compose music to a libretto based on Carl Gottlob Cramer’s Peter Schmoll. Weber’s father saw this novel as a good means of practice for his son, and commissioned the librettist Joseph Türk to write the libretto for him.
The reception at its first performance in Augsburg in 1801 was, contrary to the success of Das Waldmädchen previously, not so enthusiastic. However, his former teacher Johann Michael Haydn attested to Weber that it was thoroughly composed and a very venerable work. Proof of its quality is the fact that the overture was published. It is indeed very engaging and features many conventions of composition that Weber would have been expected to include to showcase what he had learned. Weber’s huge musical gifts show through time and time again, especially in the way that he combines his delightful melodic ideas in a thoroughly artistic manner.
Unfortunately, the spoken words have been lost. As the story is pretty simple, reconstruction of the overall plot is not too difficult, though: Peter Schmoll and his niece Minette flee to a hamlet near the Dutch/German boarder during the French Revolution. Convinced that both Minette’s father and suitor Karl have died, Peter Schmoll falls in love with his niece. However, they both live and are able to track Minette down. At first aghast to see Minette in Karl’s arms, Peter’s brother can at last convince him to give up his niece to Karl.
The ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra has been collaborating with the Theater an der Wien for the last twelve years and has gained a reputation as an opera orchestra. Most of their performances are broadcast by the Austrian radio. Experience in recording CDs, with many first recordings, as well as being in demand for music festivals across the globe, rightfully made them the first choice for this recording, which hugely benefits from their outstanding musical quality.
The baritone Paul Armin Edelmann (Peter Schmoll) is an experienced Lied singer who toured Europe and North America extensively and does the title role full justice. Thorsten Grümbel (bass) convinces as Martin Schmoll, Peter Schmoll’s brother and father to Minette. The Russian soprano Ilona Revolskaya sings Minette’s part most wonderfully. Having studied at the conservatoires in Moscow and Salzburg, she is a member of the Royal Academy Opera and is a real gain for this CD. The tenor Sebastian Kohlhepp and the bass Christoph Seidl (servants to Peter Schmoll) deliver their parts with convincing dignity. Johannes Bamberger’s (tenor) rendering of Niklas – the farmer with whom Karl and Minette’s father live before finding Minette and Peter Schmoll – is thorough.
Weber’s Peter Schmoll und seine Nachbarn is a highly entertaining early work and not only displays his thorough musicality but also many beautiful buds of his musical ingenuity that would later bestow upon the world so many magnificent works. Listening to the result of his compositional exercise in such a superb quality as ensured by both singers and orchestra, is indeed a real pleasure.
Maximilian Burgdörfer
