Neues vom Tage
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Neues vom Tage (News of the Day) is a comic opera (lustige Oper) in three parts by Paul Hindemith, with a German libretto by Marcellus Schiffer.
The opera is a satire of modern life, celebrity and marriage, involving parodies of both Puccini's music and Berlin cabaret. The opera became notorious for a scene with a naked soprano (Laura) singing in the bath about the wonders of modern plumbing, though Hindemith replaced her with the tenor (Hermann) in the revised version.
The mischievous nudity particularly aroused the ire of Ernst "Putzi" Hanfstängel, Hitler’s musical advisor, and was later cited by the Nazis as evidence that the "degenerate art" of the "cultural bolshevist" Hindemith should be excluded from Germany.[1]
Performance history
It was first performed on 8 June 1929, at the Kroll Opera House, Berlin, under the musical direction of Otto Klemperer. Hindemith revised the opera, changing the text and adding a little new music, for the Teatro San Carlo, Naples on 7 April 1954. The United States premiere of the work was at the Santa Fe Opera in 1961.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 8 June 1929 (Conductor: Otto Klemperer) |
Revised version, 7 April 1954 (Conductor: Paul Hindemith) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laura | soprano | Grete Stückgold | Mercedes Fortunati |
| Eduard, Laura's husband | baritone | Giuseppe Valdengo | |
| Hermann, a professional co-respondent | tenor | Erik Wirkl | Gino Sinimberghi |
| Herr M | tenor | Arthur Cavara | Alessandro Pellegrini |
| Frau M | mezzo-soprano | Sabine Kalter | Adamo |
| Baron d'Houdoux, an entrepreneur | bass | Dezső Ernster | Giuseppe Modesti |
| Frau Pick, a newspaper reporter | contralto | Myriam Pirazzini | |
| Uli | bass | Fritz Krenn | Coriolano Jorio |
| Hotel director | bass | Gerardo Gaudiosi | |
| Room maid | soprano | ||
| Guide | bass | Plinio Clabassi | |
| Head waiter | tenor | ||
| Registrar | bass | Giovanni Amodeo | |
| First manager | tenor | Nino Adami | |
| Second manager | tenor | Silvio Santarelli | |
| Third manager | tenor | Gianni Avolanti | |
| Fourth manager | tenor | Piero De Palma | |
| Fifth manager | bass | Aldo Terrosi |
Recordings
Hindemith: Neues vom Tage - WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln
- Conductor: Jan Latham-König
- Principal singers: Elisabeth Werres (Laura), Claudio Nicolai, (Eduard), Ronald Pries (Hermann) / Horst Hiestermann (Herr M), Martina Borst (Frau M), Oscar Garcia de Gracia (Hotel director), Arwed Sandner (registrar) / Celso Antunes (1st manager; head waiter), Wolf Geuer (2nd manager), Thomas Donecker (3rd manager), Christoph Scheeben (4th manager; guide), Dieter Gillessen (5th manager), Heribert Feckler: bass (6th manager), Sabine Bitter (room maid)
- Recording date: 1987
- Label: WERGO - 28 61922 (CD)
References
- ↑ Geissmar, Bertha: Two Worlds of Music, Creative Age Press, NY 1946.
- Amadeus Almanac, accessed 20 August 2008 (1929 premiere)
- Amadeus Almanac, accessed 20 August 2008 (1954 revision)
- Skelton, Geoffrey (1992), 'Neues vom Tage' in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London) ISBN 0-333-73432-7
