Reopening of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Berlin
“Die Frist ist um” – “the deadline is up”. And it is even quite on schedule, by Berlin standards at least! A delay of three years is considered more than punctual in Berlin. Playlist curated by Albrecht Selge.
Read more…As of October 3, 2017, music will once again take off at the completely renovated home of the Staatsoper “Unter den Linden”. No Schillertheater referendum has to extend the operation in the lovely Charlottenburg replacement location forever.And how does a seven-year exile compare to a centuries-long story? When Frederick the Great’s royal court orchestra opened Berlin’s first opera house in 1742, the musical group had already had a long life – an electoral court chapel ensemble existed as early as 1570. Thus, today’s Staatskapelle is one of the oldest orchestras in the world, and one of the best! Daniel Barenboim, the general music director since 1992, has unquestionably repositioned the ensemble in the ranks of the world’s top orchestras.There’s no doubt that the old Brandenburg court ensemble found its highest destiny as an opera orchestra. From Carl Heinrich Graun’s “Artaserse”, Gaspare Spontini’s “Agnes von Hohenstaufen”, and Otto Nicolai’s “Merry Wives from Windsor”, to Alban Berg’s “Wozzeck” and Hans Werner Henze’s “Phaedra”, music history was written in the Staatsoper Unter den Linden.What a pity that the first Staatsoper recordings were not made until 1916!
Thus, listeners tuning in to this playlist have to imagine the first centuries themselves. After the start (with the Flying Dutchman’s deadline proclamation), this chronologically-arranged playlist nevertheless dives deeply into the history of the Staatsoper, with a focus on older recordings. Immortal masterpieces alternate with half-forgotten rarities, from Mozart to Martha, from the wound of Amfortas to the execution of Hanswurst. Renowned singers are included: the Ukrainian-born Alexander Kipnis, Joseph Schmidt, who died as a Jewish refugee in 1942, and the great soprano and poet Lotte Lehmann, along with Rudolf Schock, Hans Hotter, and Theo Adam.Between the opera recordings, there are instrumental interludes in order to appreciate the significance of the Staatskapelle under such conductors as Leo Blech, Erich Kleiber, Robert Heger, Herbert von Karajan, Franz Konwitschny, and Otmar Suitner – and also their top echelon of guest conductors, like Wilhelm Kempff.Two encores should not be missing: the Staatskapelle’s wind quintet performs, and finally, the general music director Daniel Barenboim personally sits down at the piano (and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sings). A great visit to the reopening of the “Lindenoper” in 2017!