Radio 3's complete cycle of the 15 Strauss operas ends with the first and the last (today and tomorrow): a unique opportunity to hear how far he travelled and developed in an opera-composing career which spanned 48 years.
Strauss wrote both words and music of his first opera and loved it dearly, despite the failure of its first production in 1894. Late in his life he revised and abridged it - the version used in this new studio recording. Its story of a minstrel knight with a mission has heavily
Wagnerian overtones, and indeed Strauss dedicated his first opera to Wagner. (sung in German) (first UK broadcast)
Cast in order of singing:
BBC SINGERS (MEN'S VOICES) chorus-master SIMON JOLT BBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA leader RODNEY FRIEND conducted by JOHN PRITCHARD
Repetiteur DAVID SHAW
German coach HILDA BEAL Technical presentation JOHN RUSHBY- SMITH
Tape editor PETER SIDHOM Producer ELAINE PADMORE The scene is the court of the Old Duke in Germany in the mid-13th century. Acts 1 and 2