Composer is ordered to remove ‘degraded’ song from her opera

The Austrian composer Olga Neuwirth, whose opera Orlando is supposedly the first by a woman to be staged at the Vienna State Opera, has found herself in dispute with the rights owners of a song she borrowed in the score.

The rights owners of  the song ‘Thank you for this good morning’ by Martin Gotthard Schneider which appears at the end of the first act have condemned its inclusion and ordered the composer to remove it from future performances.

Their statement reads:

The rights holders of this song (Erbengemeinschaft Martin Gotthard Schneider and Gustav Bosse Verlag Kassel) expressly distance themselves from this use and form of presentation. The song is used in a caricaturing-degrading form to represent the bigotry in society. Among other things, it is about the sexual abuse of children. Using the song “Thank you for this good morning” in this context, even if this is done with artistically sophisticated means, does not in any way correspond to the intentions of the composer Martin Gotthard Schneider. The use of the song as well as the corresponding processing and presentation as well as the further use of the “Thank you song” in this context is therefore not approved by the right holders. 

Neuwirth with Vienna Opera chief Dominique Meyer