Paul Hindemith - Cardillac, Op. 39 Act I (1926 Original Version)

Описание: Paul Hindemith (16 November 1895 – 28 December 1963) was a prolific German composer, violist, violinist, teacher and conductor. In the 1920s, he became a major advocate of the Neue Sachlichkeit (new objectivity) style of music. Notable compositions include his song cycle Das Marienleben (1923), Der Schwanendreher for viola and orchestra (1935), and opera Mathis der Maler (1938). Hindemith's most popular work, both on record and in the concert hall, is likely the Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes by Carl Maria von Weber, written in 1943.

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Cardillac, Op. 39 Opera in 3 Acts (1925-26 Original Version)
Librettist: Ferdinand Lion (1883-1965), after Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (1776-1822) Das Fräulein von Scuderi

Act I
No.1: Bild
No. 1: Vorspiel zum 1. Bild und Chor (0:00)
No. 2: Szene mit Chor (5:48)
No. 3: Szene zu Zweien (10:19)
No. 4: Arie (15:14)
No. 2: Bild
No. 5: Lied (18:01)
No. 6: Pantomime. Duett für zwei Flöten (22:50)

Der Goldschmied Cardillac: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Die Tochter: Leonore Kirschstein
Der Offizier: Donald Grobe
Der Goldhändler: Karl Christian Kohn
Der Kavalier: Eberhard Katz
Die Dame: Elisabeth Söderström
Der Führer der Prévôté: Willi Nett
Bass solo of the choir: Nikolaus Hillebrand

Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Joseph Keilberth

Hindemith's first full-length opera Cardillac, Op. 39 (based on a libretto by Ferdinand Lion) is considered both the epitome and the principal work of the «New Objectivity.»

The goldsmith Cardillac is, as an «autonomically» creative artist, a «negative hero», a pathological, abnormally obsessed loner who murders those who buy his jewelry in order to regain possession of it. As the creator of an art with a fatal lack of compromise, turning away from those who want to use it, he is the «victim of a holy madness» who slays the people in order to protect himself from his murderous actions.

For this, Hindemith writes a virtuosic concertante music as he had developed in his series of Kammermusiken. There is no direct relationship of word to sound, no sense of empathizing, but the music is directly related to the plot in its fundamental constructive principles; there is a series of variations, a concertino for two flutes, an aria with concertante instruments, a duet worked out as a prelude and fugue and a passacaglia. In such forms, the music becomes worked out in terms of absolute music; it is sober, objective and appears uninvolved, yet is precisely related to the meaning of the scene and the context of the plot.

The setting is Paris in the 17th century.

Act I
Scene 1

The crowd is agitated about a series of recent mysterious murders. The police calm the crowd. The goldsmith Cardillac enters the scene and the atmosphere becomes hushed. The Lady asks the Cavalier about the goldsmith Cardillac, and the Cavalier tells of the goldsmith and his priceless jewelry. The Lady promises the Cavalier a tryst that evening if he can bring her Cardillac's most beautiful work.

Scene 2

The Lady and the Cavalier enjoy their tryst and the Cavalier delivers one of Cardillac's belts. A masked figure steals into the bedroom and fatally stabs the Cavalier. The Lady faints and the mysterious figure leaves with the belt.

Act II and III in next videos.