Summary
Neues vom Tage (English: News of the Day) is a comic opera (Lustige Oper) in three parts by Paul Hindemith, with a German libretto by Marcellus Schiffer.
| Neues vom Tage | |
|---|---|
| Lustige Oper by Paul Hindemith | |
 The composer in 1923 | |
| Translation | News of the Day |
| Librettist | Marcellus Schiffer |
| Language | German |
| Premiere | 8 June 1929 Kroll Opera House, Berlin |
The opera is a satire of modern life, celebrity and marriage, involving parodies of both Puccini's music and Berlin Kabarett. 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 on-stage nudity particularly aroused the ire of Ernst "Putzi" Hanfstängel, Hitler’s musical advisor, and was later indirectly cited by Joseph Goebbels as evidence that the "degenerate art" of "cultural bolshevist" composers should be excluded from Germany.[1][2]
Performance history edit
Neues vom Tage 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 premiere of the work in the United States was at the Santa Fe Opera in 1961.
Roles edit
| 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 edit
Hindemith: Neues vom Tage – WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln
- Conductor: Jan Latham-Koenig
- 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 edit
Notes edit
- ^ Geissmar, Bertha: Two Worlds of Music, Creative Age Press, New York 1946.
- ^ Schubert, Giselher (2003). "Einleitung" in Paul Hindemith. Neues vom Tage. Lustige Oper in drei Teilen (Sämtliche Werke I,7-1). Mainz: Schott Musik International. p. XXV.
Sources edit
- Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "Neues vom Tage, 8 June 1929". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).
- Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "Neues vom Tage, 7 April 1954". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).
- Skelton, Geoffrey (1992). "Neues vom Tage" in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie, London: Macmillan Reference ISBN 0-333-73432-7
- Hindemith, Paul (2003). Neues vom Tage. Lustige Oper in drei Teilen (Sämtliche Werke I,7-1) ed. Giselher Schubert, Mainz: Schott Musik International
External links edit
- Neues vom Tage: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
- Page about the Aachen production in 2000
