Thielemann returns with his favourite opera
OperaAfter a longer than expected absence for two leg surgeries, Christian Thielemann is back rehearsing at the Vienna State Opera.
The work is a lifelong favourite – Hans Pfitzner’s Palestrina, about a composer who showed the Pope what God really wants.
Thielemann made his Covent Garden debut with this long and winding opera in 1996. Has he ever been back?
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Frühlingsmärchen
Spielt ein Neger auf der Flöte Palestrina
am Girardaplatz im Januar, wenn es schneit,
ja, dann teilen sich die Wolken über China,
und in Moskau spricht die jüngste Ballerina:
Es ist Frühlingszeit,
es ist Frühlingszeit,
es ist Frühlingszeit.
Dreht ein Mädchen namens Mia sich gen Mekka,
und der Wind zerreißt das Band auf ihrem Hut,
ja, dann wird man in Skutari plötzlich kecker,
und in Sofia beginnt ein Streik der Bäcker.
Dann ist alles gut,
dann ist alles gut,
dann ist alles gut.
Flötenunterricht kann nicht viel kosten.
Und Palestrina sollte jedermann studiern!
Und die Mia dreh ich selber gegen Osten,
nur muß man das genau synchronisiern,
denn dann teilen sich die Wolken über China,
und am Balkan ruft man froh: Es ist soweit!
Und in Moskau spricht die jüngste Ballerina:
Es ist Frühlingszeit,
es ist Frühlingszeit,
es ist Frühlingszeit.
1958, Text/Musik: Georg Kreisler
Die prosaische Version von: In Frankfurt platzt ein Würstchen.
Do we actually know that it is his “favourite” opera?
No.
https://basiaconfuoco.com/2017/06/01/hans-pfitzner-palestrina/
He did this with the Royal Opera on tour at the Met around 1998. As far as I could tell it was done very very well. But it’s a VERY long opera suffering from the Germanic insistence on “not leaving anything out” (sorry Germans). Thielemann is one of the few conductors today who really cares about the orchestra making the right sound for the music. This was handsomely realized in gorgeous Act 1 music in particular. The tedious second act (a re-enactment of the Council of Trent) was just baffling. Thomas Allen sang superbly throughout. God Bless him for learning the part!
It was at the Lincoln Center Festival in 1997. Alan Held sang the main baritone role of Borromeo. Thomas Allen took the much smaller role of Cardinal Morone. All the smaller roles were taken by leading British singers, pointing up what a superb ensemble house ROH was at that time.
Records show that he debuted at the ROH in 1997 with “Palestrina” and also conducted “Elektra” that season.
He conducted Der Rosenkavalier in 2000 at the ROH, as I pointed out to you Norman in an earlier post that somehow mysteriously never made it on to your site.
And with a famously long pause before launching the trio…
And with Michael Spyres as Palestrina, no less
I think he debuted at Covent Garden in 1996 with Elektra (Polanski) then came the London premiere of Ägyptische Helena at the Festival Hall with the ROH closed for rebuilding. Palestrina was indeed the last thing I recall him conducting in the reopened house, I thought in 2002 or 2003.
Will he ever come back to the UK now, is my question?
Since doing a few concerts with the Philharmonia years and years ago, his only appearance has been a series of talks and discussions in 2016. But he did conduct the student orchestra of the Royal Academy of Music in some Strauss – Tod und Verklärung. He was due to come back to the RAM in early 2022 but this was cancelled.
Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ulhtSTjesY
And this is the whole thing (audio only)
https://soundcloud.com/royalacademyofmusic/thielemann-tuv-final3-44k16
His debut at the ROH was in 1988, taking the second run of performances of Janáček’s Jenůfa, Haitink having done the first of the legendary Yuri Lyubimov production with the unforgettable Eva Randova as the Kostelnička. I had a friend in the production who told me neither the orchestra nor the singers thought much of the young Thielemann’s conducting. The only hosannas were in the press, comparing him (ridiculously) to Furtwängler!