Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

In 1934 Erich Korngold moved to the U.S. to write music scores for films. He was lucky to get out of Germany when he did at the insistence of his friend, the stage director Max Reinhardt, for the Nazis immediately banned his music from all German stages. By age 37 Korngold had written two one-act operas and one full length one: Die Tote Stadt (The Dead City), which he composed to a libretto written by him and his father. After that point in his career he only occasionally turned to concert music, busy as he was contributing 16 film scores to Hollywood films.

Bayerische Staatsoper Recordings has released a DVD recording of a 2019 production directed by Simon Stone, conducted by Kiril Petrenko, and respectively starring German soprano Marlis Petersen and tenor Jonas Kaufmann as Marie/Marietta and Paul. The supporting cast features baritone Andrzej Filonczyk as Frank/Fritz, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston as Brigitta, and Mirjam Mezak. Corinna Scheurler, Manuel Guenther, and Dean Power as the theatre friends of Marietta.

It was interesting to read that the great Austrian lyric tenor Richard Tauber was one of the singers who took on the role of Paul. Jonas Kaufman, after a steady diet of Wagnerian heavies takes an unrelentingly stentorian approach to the part, which soon starts to overstay its welcome in music that is admittedly high lying but does not call for an excess of lung power at a high decibel level. Marlis Petersen, on the other hand, is sympathetic, pretty as a picture, and blessed with a top register that does not for a minute get challenged by Korngold’s writing.

Of the well-known moments, Marietta’s song remains a favorite with opera fans. Pierrot’s song is a go-to number for lyric baritones. For the rest of the two hour-forty minute score much of it sounds like Richard Strauss minus the truly memorable moments. For top-drawer, truly-inspired Korngold, it is strongly suggested the listener check out the great violin concerto and any one of the many film scores.

Rafael de Acha       ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”