Der Protagonist

Der Protagonist (The Protagonist) is an opera in one act by Kurt Weill op. 15. The German libretto was written by Georg Kaiser based on his own play of the same name of (1920).

Weill's first surviving opera has been described as Literaturoper, similar to Alban Berg's Wozzeck.

Performance history

It was first performed on 27 March 1926 at the Semperoper in Dresden, when it was directed by Josef Gielen and conducted by Fritz Busch. It was given again at the Städtische Oper in Berlin in October 1928 directed by Walter Brügmann and conducted by Robert Denzler, this time as a double bill with Der Zar lässt sich photographieren.

Post-war performances have included productions at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf in April 1958 (the first German post-war performance), directed by Friedrich Wilhelm Andreas and conducted by Friedrich Brenn; Santa Fe Opera from 31 July 1993, directed by Jonathan Eaton and conducted by George Manahan (combined with Der Zar lässt sich photographieren). An Austrian premiere of the masterpiece took place only on November 17, 2000, in a production of the MDW at Schloss Schönbrünn, directed by Sebastian Müller and conducted by Marino Formenti. It was followed by the Bregenz Festival from 21 July 2004, with the direction of Nicolas Brieger and conducted by Yakov Kreizberg (combined with Royal Palace).

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere Cast, 27 March 1926 (Conductor: Fritz Busch)
The protagonist	tenor	Curt Taucher
His sister	soprano	Elisa Stünzner
First actor	bass	Robert Büssel
Second actor	baritone	Rudolf Schmalnauer
Third actor	contralto	Elfriede Haberkorn
The majordomo of the duke	tenor	Ludwig Eybisch
Young lord	baritone	Paul Schöffler
Innkeeper	bass	Adolf Schoepflin
Eight musicians

Recordings

Weill: Der Protagonist - Berlin German Symphony Orchestra

Conductor: John Mauceri
Principal singers: Corby Welch, Matthias Koch, Alexander Marco-Buhrmester, Robert Worle, Jan Buchwald, Matteo de Monti, Johannes von Duisburg, Amanda Halgrimson
Recording date: 1 May 2002
Label: Capriccio - 60 086 (CD)

References

Sources

Amadeus Almanac, accessed 6 November 2008
Hinton, Stephen (1992), "Der Protagonist", The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London) ISBN 0-333-73432-7

External links

Kurt Weill Foundation page on Der Protagonist

Works for the stage by Kurt Weill

Der Protagonist (1926)
Mahagonny-Songspiel (1927)
Der Zar lässt sich photographieren (1928)
The Threepenny Opera (1928)
Happy End (1929)
Der Lindberghflug (1929)
Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (1930)
Der Jasager (1930)
Die Bürgschaft (1932)
Der Silbersee (1933)
The Seven Deadly Sins (1933)
Der Kuhhandel (1935)
Johnny Johnson (1936)
The Eternal Road (1937)
Knickerbocker Holiday (1938)
Lady in the Dark (1940)
One Touch of Venus (1943)
The Firebrand of Florence (1945)
Street Scene (1946)
Down in the Valley (1948)
Love Life (1948)
Lost in the Stars (1949)

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