Semperoper - Volume 1
Gott! Welch dunkel hier! (“God! What darkness here … “) -
The earliest postwar Dresden recordings
CD 1
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827)
Fidelio - Gott! Welch dunkel hier! [6:55]
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791)
The Marriage of Figaro – Ach öffnet Eure Augen [4:18]
Endlich nahet sich die Stunde [5:53]
Umberto GIORDANO (1867-1948)
André Chénier – Den Blick hatt’ ich erhoben [4:07]
Otto NICOLAI (1810-1849)
Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor – Nein, das ist wirklich zu keck [8:15]
Als Büblein klein der Mutterbrust [3:43]
Wohl denn, gefasst ist der Entschluss [7:00]
Gioacchino ROSSINI (1792-1868)
The Barber of Seville – Ich bin das Faktotum [4:50]
Friderich von FLOTOW (1812-1883)
Martha - Ja, was nun [5:35]
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART
The Magic Flute – Der Vogerlfänger bin ich ja [2:14]
Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön [3:45]
O Isis und Osiris [3:08]
In diesen heil’gen Hallen [4:23]
Ach, ich fühl’s, es ist entschewunden [4:37]
Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen wünscht [3:46]
Pa, Pa, Papagena [2:28]
Die Strahlen der Sonne [2:40]
CD 2
Giuseppe VERDI (1813-1901)
La forza del destino – Sende mir Frieden [4:22]
Il Trovatore – Lodern zum Himmel (Manrico, stretta) [2:21]
Ballo in Maschera – Ich bin dir nah [8:10]
Don Carlos – Verhäangnisvoll war das Geschenk (Eboli’s aria) [4:55]
Don Carlos – Du, im irdischen Wahn [10:50]
Otello – Jeder Knabe kann mein Schwert (Otello’s death) [4:47]
Aida- Tanz der Mohrensklaven; Komm, lasse Blumen dpriessen; O komm, Geliebter;
Wohl war euch das Los der Waffen feindlich [14:44]
Aida - Es hat der Stein (Act IV finale) [12:05]
Giacomo PUCCINI (1858-1924)
La Bohème – Man nemnt mich jetzt Mimi [4:56]
La Bohème – Will ich allein des Abends [2:28]
Tosca – Und es blitzen die Sterne [3:14]
Nur der Schonheit weih’t ich mein Leben (Tosca’s death) [3:14]
CD 3
Bedrich SMETANA (1824-1884)
Bartered Bride – Komm, mein Söhnchen [6:02]
Bartered Bride – Wie fremd und tot ist alles umher [5:39]
Pyotr Ilyich TCHIAKOVSKY (1840-1893)
Pique dame – Lied der Pauline [3:48]
Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949)
Salome – Ah! Du wollst mich deinen Mund – final scene; Salome, Herodes, Herodias
[17:23]
Giacomo PUCCINI
Madame Butterfly – Mädchen in deinen Augen [11:26]
Madame Butterfly – Eines Tages she’n wir [4:15]
Madame Butterfly – Schuttle alle Zweige dieses Kirschbaums [6:09]
Ruggiero LEONCAVALLO (1858-1919)
Der Bajazzo –Haha, ihr scherzt wohl [2:53]
Der Bajazzo –Jetzt spielen – Hull dich in Tand nur [3:51]
Antonin DVORÁK (1841-1904)
Rusalka – Du lieber Mond [6:05]
Giuseppe VERDI
Sicilian Vespers – O Heimat, teure Heimat [8:29]
Elfride Trötschel, Christel Goltz, Gottlob Frick
Kurt Striegler, Rudolf Kempe, Joseph Keilberth
Singers; Bernd Aldenhoff, Kurt Böhme, Werner Faulhaber, Gottlob Frick,
Christel Goltz, Hans Hopf, Inger Karén, Lisa Otto, Karl Paul, Heinz Sauerbaum,
Arno Schellenberg, Elfride Trötschel, Elfriede Weidlich, Werner Liebling,
Karl Paul, Helena Rott, Ruth Lange, Dora Zschille
Orchestras and choir; Chor der Staatsoper Dresden, Staatskapelle Dresden,
RSO Leipzig, Grosses Rundfunkorchester Dresden,
Conductors; Joseph Keilberth, Gerhart Wiesenhütter, Rolf Kleinert,
Hans Löwlein, Gerhard Lenssen
The Semperoper Edition is a documentary series jointly presented by Staatskapelle
Dresden, MDR Figaro, Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv and Semperoper Dresden
Booklet - 240 pages in English and German, profusely illustrated; no texts
or translations.
DVD includes a DEFA documentary film ‘Dresden – Aufbau im Osten’ (1946); ‘My
Dresden Years’ – memories from Joseph Keilberth, Christel Goltz, Lisa Otto;
‘Cristel Goltz – privat’ (1949) plus a bonus of Elfride Trötschel singing
Du lieber Mond with the Staatskapelle, Dresden/Kempe
HÄNSSLER PROFIL PH10007 [3 CDs: 77:43 +76:03 + 77:53 + 
]
This is the first in a promised documentary series, and contains three CDs
and a DVD. The performances are all Dresden radio performances, starting in
1945, and a large swathe of them has not been previously released, though
collectors will know that some of these excerpts have made it to commercial
recordings; some of the Hans Hopf sides have certainly been available before,
for example, and the same is true for a few others. However it remains true
to say that the majority appear for the first time in this form.
The singers are Berd Aldenhoff, Kurt Böhme, Werner Faulhaber, Gottlob Frick,
Christel Goltz, Hans Hopf, Inger Karen, Lisa Otto, Karl Paul, Heinz Sauerbaum,
Arno Schellenberg, Elfride Trötschen, and Elfriede Weidlich, Werner Liebling,
Karl Paul, Helena Rott, Ruth Lange, and Dora Zschille. The conductors are
Joseph Keilberth, Gerhart Wiesenhütter, Rolf Kleinert, Werner Liebling, Karl
Paul, Gerhard Lenssen and Hans Löwlein. Everything was recorded between 1945
and 1951. Everything is sung in German.
The repertoire embraces Mozart, the Italians, Smetana, Tchaikovsky, Flotow,
Strauss, and Dvorák, amongst others, and of course the extract from Fidelio
that lends its text to the sub-title of the set. The Italian representation
is very strong; and whilst there is some Strauss, there is no Wagner.
The arias and scenes may be well-known but not all the singers are, and this
is one way in which this release will prove attractive. One such was the short
lived Werner Faulhaber who died at 25 in a mountain fall, and who sings Mozart
with a certain ebullience and power. Much better known are the two resident
Dresden basses, Kurt Böhme and Gottlob Frick, who formed a formidable team
in the city and whose every appearance supports posterity’s view of them;
the former splendid in the Merry Widow, in particular. In this scene we can
also hear from the excellent Elfriede Weidlich. One singer who was with the
company for decades was Arno Schellenberg, but his Rossini I find crude and
exaggerated, and there’s some tape damage. Perhaps this is a good moment to
note that the sound quality, whilst obviously variable, is nevertheless first
class for the time and circumstances involved.
Helena Rott is an uneven artist here – very good in places but, as in Martha,
unconvincing. Tenor Werner Liebling is not especially elegant or velvet-toned
in Mozart. Christel Goltz is another in-and-out singer. Often she is fine
but her Verdi is patchy and out of tune in La forza del destino, but much
improved in Don Carlos, which was taped three years earlier. Bernd Aldenhoff
is a personable tenor.
A sequence has been constructed from La Bohème extracts sung by various singers
between 1945 and 1951. Hopf, who is usually a reliable singer, is a bit unwieldy
in his appearance here. There is also a hefty 27 minute slice from Aida with
Goltz, Rott and Aldenhoff from October 1947, which impresses. Another longer
extract is the final scene from Salome (Goltz, Karén, Aldenhoff, 1948 conducted
by Keilberth). Elfride Trötschel sings softly and splendidly in her Rusalka
extract, of which she made a well known studio recording. One could also mention
the young and impressive Lisa Otto in Mozart.
The DVD is in German with no subtitles in any other language. It includes
a DEFA documentary film ‘Dresden – Aufbau im Osten’ (1946); ‘My Dresden Years’
– memories from Joseph Keilberth, Christel Goltz, Lisa Otto; ‘Cristel Goltz
– privat’ (1949) plus a bonus of Elfride Trötschel singing Du lieber Mond
with the Staatskapelle, Dresden and Kempe. It’s a powerful affair, well watch
watching.
Finally a word about the book that goes with this set; booklet is inadequate
to describe the 241 book in German and English translation, which has been
compiled, produced and indeed reproduced with painstaking intelligence. It’s
a vivid document, profusely illustrated in black and white, and in colour,
with full recording details, artist biographies and background to the enterprise.
It really is an outstanding piece of work.
In short, this set collates radio performances of some considerable rarity,
and presents them in a superbly documented way.
Jonathan Woolf
Radio performances of some considerable rarity presented in a superbly documented
way.