Notre Dame (opera)
Notre Dame is a romantic opera by Franz Schmidt, to a libretto by himself and Leopold Wilk (1876-1944), a professional chemist and amateur poet.[1] It is based loosely on the novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo.
The opera was written between 1904 and 1906.[2] Schmidt approached the opera by writing the orchestral parts of the score first, adding the vocal parts in later.[1] He incorporated some material from an unfinished fantasia for piano and orchestra.[1]
Notre Dame was first performed in Vienna on 1 April 1914. The principal female role of Esmeralda was created by Marie Gutheil-Schoder.[2]
The work was popular till the early 1920s, then faded from view. It has been revived in Vienna and Dresden, and has been recorded at least twice.[1]
The opera is best known for its orchestral Intermezzo, which was first performed, along with the Carnival Music,[1] on 6 December 1903 in Vienna, as Zwischenspiel aus einer unvollständigen romantischen Oper.[3] These pieces were not composed with any opera in mind, but were later incorporated into Notre Dame, which he started writing in August 1904.[1] The composer and violinist Karl Goldmark described the Intermezzo as "the most beautiful of Gypsy music".[4]
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere: 1 April 1914, Vienna |
|---|---|---|
| Esmeralda | soprano | Marie Gutheil-Schoder |
| Gringoire | tenor | |
| Phoebus | tenor | |
| Quasimodo | bass | |
| Archdeacon | baritone | |
Revivals
- post-World War II, Vienna State Opera[1]
- 1975, Julia Migenes, Walter Berry, Vienna Volksoper[1][2]
- 2010, Camilla Nylund (Esmeralda), Robert Gambill (Phoebus), Oliver Ringelhahn (Gringoire), Markus Butter (Archdeacon), Jan-Hendrik Rootering (Quasimodo), Dresden Semperoper under Gerd Albrecht[5]
Recordings
- 1949, Karl Ostertag (Tenor), Wilhelm Schlichting (Baritone), Hanne Munch (Mezzo Soprano), Max Proebstl (Bass), Hans Hopf (Tenor), Hilde Scheppan (Soprano), Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Hans Altmann[6]
- 1988, Dame Gwyneth Jones (Esmeralda), James King (Phoebus), Kurt Moll (Quasimodo), Horst Laubenthal (Gringoire), Hartmut Welker (Archdeacon); Andreas Juffinger, Hans Helm, Kaja Borris, with Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra under Christof Perick[2]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Notre Dame Classical Archives
- 1 2 3 4 Oxford Journals
- ↑ Franz Schmidt (Composer) bach-cantatas.com
- ↑ seiso.us
- ↑ Financial Times, 27 April 2010
- ↑ Arkiv Music
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