Neues vom Tage | |
---|---|
Lustige Oper by Paul Hindemith | |
Translation | News of the Day |
Librettist | Marcellus Schiffer |
Language | German |
Premiere | 8 June 1929
Kroll Opera House, Berlin |
Neues vom Tage (English: News of the Day) is a comic opera (Lustige Oper) in three parts by Paul Hindemith, with a German libretto by Marcellus Schiffer.
The opera is a satire of modern life, celebrity and marriage, involving parodies of both Puccini's music and Berlin Kabarett. The opera became notorious for a scene with a naked soprano (Laura) singing in the bath about the wonders of modern plumbing, though Hindemith replaced her with the tenor (Hermann) in the revised version.
The on-stage nudity particularly aroused the ire of Ernst "Putzi" Hanfstängel, Hitler’s musical advisor, and was later indirectly cited by Joseph Goebbels as evidence that the " degenerate art" of " cultural bolshevist" composers should be excluded from Germany. [1] [2]
Neues vom Tage was first performed on 8 June 1929, at the Kroll Opera House, Berlin, under the musical direction of Otto Klemperer. Hindemith revised the opera, changing the text and adding a little new music, for the Teatro San Carlo, Naples, on 7 April 1954. The premiere of the work in the United States was at the Santa Fe Opera in 1961.
Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 8 June 1929 (Conductor: Otto Klemperer) |
Revised version, 7 April 1954 (Conductor: Paul Hindemith) |
---|---|---|---|
Laura | soprano | Grete Stückgold | Mercedes Fortunati |
Eduard, Laura's husband | baritone | Giuseppe Valdengo | |
Hermann, a professional co-respondent | tenor | Erik Wirkl | Gino Sinimberghi |
Herr M | tenor | Arthur Cavara | Alessandro Pellegrini |
Frau M | mezzo-soprano | Sabine Kalter | Adamo |
Baron d'Houdoux, an entrepreneur | bass | Dezső Ernster | Giuseppe Modesti |
Frau Pick, a newspaper reporter | contralto | Myriam Pirazzini | |
Uli | bass | Fritz Krenn | Coriolano Jorio |
Hotel director | bass | Gerardo Gaudiosi | |
Room maid | soprano | ||
Guide | bass | Plinio Clabassi | |
Head waiter | tenor | ||
Registrar | bass | Giovanni Amodeo | |
First manager | tenor | Nino Adami | |
Second manager | tenor | Silvio Santarelli | |
Third manager | tenor | Gianni Avolanti | |
Fourth manager | tenor | Piero De Palma | |
Fifth manager | bass | Aldo Terrosi |
Hindemith: Neues vom Tage – WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln