Columbus (Egk)

Columbus is a 1933 opera by Werner Egk. Originally a radio opera, Egk revised it in 1942 for the stage.^[1] The Munich premiere was acclaimed in the press and joined the year's repertoire at the Freiburg Theatre,^[2] though some dissented. The lack of melody in the opera brought negative comment from Richard Strauss in comparison to Meyerbeer's grand opera on the life of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama L'Africaine.^[3]

Recording

Columbus - Ernst Gutstein, Fritz Wunderlich, Hans Herbert Fiedler, Willy Ferenz, Georg Pappas, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Werner Egk

References

^ The Oxford Dictionary of Music 0199578540 ed. Michael Kennedy, Tim Rutherford-Johnson, Joyce Kennedy, 2013 p. 256: "operas: Columbus (1933 radio, 1942 stage); Die Zaubergeige (1935, rev. 1954); Peer Gynt (1938); Circe (1945, rev. 1966 as 17 Tage und 4 Minuten); Irische Legende (after Yeats, 1955, rev. 1970); Der Revisor (after Gogol's The Government Inspector, 1957); Die Verlobung in San Domingo (1963)."
^ Cultural news from Germany, Volumes 6–7, 1963, p. 4 "Opera – Ballet: "Werner Egk's Columbus – After a "superb premiere, deservedly acclaimed" (Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich) Werner Egk's opera Columbus has been incorporated into this year's repertoire at the Freiburg theatre."
^ Michael H. Kater Composers of the Nazi Era: Eight Portraits, 0195099249 (2000) p.212: "To Werner Egk, in alliance with whom Strauss would face Joseph Goebbels over serious-music rights in 1941, Strauss reportedly said in his best Bavarian dialect around that time, with reference to Egk's Columbus: 'So you are the new Meyerbeer but without melody."

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[1] The Oxford Dictionary of Music 0199578540 ed. Michael Kennedy, Tim Rutherford-Johnson, Joyce Kennedy, 2013 p. 256: "operas: Columbus (1933 radio, 1942 stage); Die Zaubergeige (1935, rev. 1954); Peer Gynt (1938); Circe (1945, rev. 1966 as 17 Tage und 4 Minuten); Irische Legende (after Yeats, 1955, rev. 1970); Der Revisor (after Gogol's The Government Inspector, 1957); Die Verlobung in San Domingo (1963)."

[2] Cultural news from Germany, Volumes 6–7, 1963, p. 4 "Opera – Ballet: "Werner Egk's Columbus – After a "superb premiere, deservedly acclaimed" (Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich) Werner Egk's opera Columbus has been incorporated into this year's repertoire at the Freiburg theatre."

[3] Michael H. Kater Composers of the Nazi Era: Eight Portraits, 0195099249 (2000) p.212: "To Werner Egk, in alliance with whom Strauss would face Joseph Goebbels over serious-music rights in 1941, Strauss reportedly said in his best Bavarian dialect around that time, with reference to Egk's Columbus: 'So you are the new Meyerbeer but without melody."

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