Opera tonight: Schreker’s Der singende Teufel (The Singing Devil)
OperaIn the beginning of the 20th century, Austrian composer Franz Schreker was one of the only opera composers in the German-speaking world whose success could compete with Richard Strauss. But as of 1933, Schreker’s works were banned in Germany and began to disappear from the international repertoire. Only very slowly did Franz Schreker’s operas come back to the stages, and despite this revival, Der singende Teufel (The Singing Devil) has remained in the shadows to this day. After the streams of Der ferne Klang and Der Schmied von Gent on OperaVision, Theatre Bonn’s production is another opportunity to rediscover Schreker’s post-romantic music. Conducted by Dirk Kaftan and directed by Julia Burbach. Lead role of Amandus Herz sung by Mirko Roschkowski.
The Plot: Amandus completes the construction of a magic organ just before a pagan attack on the monastery. The instrument’s heavenly sound pacifies the attackers, who lay down their weapons and kneel. But it won’t be long before the tones of this ‘singing devil’ resound again, this time from behind the burning walls of the monastery…..
Subtitles in German and English.
Available on Saturday 17 February 2024 at 1900 CET/ 1800 London / 1300 NY (available for six months only)
I saw this live last summer in Bonn and can thoroughly recommend it.
Schreker is a great composer. His disappearance from the repertoire has nothing to do with his music but with political circumstances, he was ‘Jewish’. But he was, like Strauss, not much interested in the ‘cool’ neoclassicism of his times, and the atonal 12-tone ‘school’ left him cold, his was a romantic temperament in a time when this was increasingly considered ‘outdated’ by new music pundits. His virtuosic music absorbed much from Debussy, which makes him stand-out from most German/Austrian composers. After many humiliations and kafkaesque ‘cancelling’ everywhere, and just before he fled Germany, he died of a heart attack.
Not a patch on Hindemith.
There should be no more Wagner operas presented until every company has done all of Schreker’s operas.