Paul Hindemith was never well known for his operas, although
Cardillac and
Mathis der Maler have received the
occasional outing and recordings. The opera presented here,
The Long
Christmas Dinner, based on Thornton Wilder's play, is rarer still. It
receives its first English-language recording here and was worth waiting
for. Marek Janowski recorded the German version of the opera, which
Hindemith had translated himself, for Wergo's Hindemith edition (
WER
66762). I have not heard that account but, as the original is in English
and Hindemith conducted the first English performance shortly before his
death in 1963, it is important to hear the opera in its original
language.
Nick Barnard described the plot well in his review for this website, so I
will not repeat that here. The house in which the Bayard family celebrated
some ninety years-worth of Christmas dinners acts as a central motif for the
opera. The question, "
How long have we been in this
house?" crops up from time to time, as does the mention of the family's
presence or absence in church during the Christmas holidays. The events of
the family, its trials and tribulations and its happiest times, are the
subject of the Christmas conversation and lend an air of nostalgia to the
plot. The ending of the opera contains irony and a bit of humour when cousin
Ermengarde, now old, reads a letter with the news that the younger
generation of the family is building a new house. Her last words are,
"
Fancy that!"
This recording was taken from a December 2014 production at New York's
Alice Tully Hall. Conductor Leon Botstein had the brilliant idea to precede
the opera performance with one of the original Wilder play. It was received
very well and would have been nice had it been included here, since the
opera is very short and Bridge has enclosed the single disc in a double CD
case. One assumes this was done to make room for the rather thick booklet,
which includes the complete libretto both in English and in German. What we
get, though, is an excellent account of this opera. There are really no weak
links in the casting with the some of singers taking more than one role.
Botstein and the American Symphony clearly have the measure of the work,
too.
Overall, I found the orchestral parts more interesting than the vocal
ones. Hindemith adapts the traditional carol,
God Rest Ye Merry
Gentlemen with his typical "wrong note" harmony effectively as the
opera's prelude and then brings it back at the work's end to tie things
together. He excels in the kind of contrapuntal writing that underpins the
vocal line, though there are also effective lyrical, aria-like passages. The
sextet where a young member of the family, Sam, who is home on military
leave, reminisces and then goes off to war while the others sing of the
weather is really memorable. It is the high point of the opera. We owe
Bridge a debt of gratitude for making this performance available, as I very
much doubt we will get another recording soon. All fans of Hindemith should
try to hear it.
Leslie Wright
Previous review:
Nick Barnard
