Humperdinck - Königskinder (Ingo Metzmacher, Jonas Kaufmann, Isabel Rey) [2012]

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Humperdinck - Königskinder (Ingo Metzmacher, Jonas Kaufmann, Isabel Rey) [2012]

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Humperdinck (1854-1921) was travelling around Italy and met Wagner at Naples in 1880. Wagner invited him to Bayreuth,so he became his assistant and Humperdinck helped prepare Parsifal for its premiere. He was well qualified as he was considered brilliant by his Professors of music,as he was always winning music prizes. He himself later became a Professor of music in Frankfurt,as well as a music critic.Humperdinck is famous for his opera Hansel and Gretel,based upon a tale by the brothers Grimm.Premiere,23 December 1893,Weimar.Although Humperdinck can be said to use some of Wagner's musical techniques,he was no imitator of Wagner,for he was the innovator of the new species of opera,the fairy opera based upon fairy tales.
However,in the first version of Konigskinder written 1895-1897,Humperdinck became a modernist who anticipated the song speech of the atonalists such as Berg. He experimented with the melodic line of speech,so it was not just a play with incidental music. He turned it into a complete opera 1908-1910. The fairy tale appealed to those whom low life operas(verismo)was too coarse. Hense the vogue for symbolist drama,of which playwright,Elsa Bernstein-Porges the librettist of Konigskinder was an example. She wrote under the name of Ernst Rosner.She knew Humperdinck from Bayreuth,where her father Heinrich Porges had assisted Wagner with the Ring cycle.Although a fairy tale Konigskinder draws upon Nietzsche for its ideas of leadership and natural royality. "The music is a strain of exquisite elegiac melancholy of which the fiddlers final song is a poignant example".(Holden(ed)1993:179).Premiere December 1910. Metropolitian opera.New York.The composer was present.Toscanni and Puccini who saw it liked the opera.
Synopsis." The goose Girl who lives in the wood with an evil witch,by chance meets the Kings son who is disguised as a humble beggar. She falls in love with him. He promises her that she will see him again only when a star falls into a certain Lily. This strange event occurs,the two meet again.But the goose girl is not fated for happiness. The evil witch kills both indirectly with a poisoned pastry, which they had bought from the parents who had found the bread.They had thrown the pair out of town." (Ewen 1978:881). A timeless opera about a conservative society,which frowns on difference and is self centered.
The staging is modern,set in a hall,which becomes a forest,with paper geese. Act 2 a hall with a business,which is ransacked by the towns folk. Act 3 the hall is open to the elements such as snow. Costumes modern. Stage director Nina Russi.I do not think that the modern staging will be a problem for the Traditional minded fans. The orchestra and Chorus is conducted by Ingo Metzmacher with a understanding of the score and the right tempo's for such a beautiful piece,full of charming melodies and arias. Isobel Rey the goose girl fits and sings the part perfectly. The Kings son is Jonas Kaufmann,where he shows why he is the best tenor alive today.He caresses the notes when singing softly.It is amazing how with a baritonal voice,he can sing so lyrically.This role shows his abilities to the full.Act 1,Willst du mein Maienbuhle sein,shows him at his best and especially in the Act 3 duet and the death scene which is heartbreaking. Oliver Widmer,the Fiddler is especially effective,especially at the very end which is sad. The witch is Mezzo Lilana Nikiteanu who makes the most of the role. Rest of the parts well taken, especially the childrens choir.Recorded live 2010.I was extremely upset at the end.

By Ultrarunner

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Humperdinck - Königskinder (Ingo Metzmacher, Jonas Kaufmann, Isabel Rey) [2012]

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