Item #32060 Friederike. Singspiel in drei Akten ... Klavierauszug mit Text. [Piano-vocal score]. Franz LEHÁR.

Friederike. Singspiel in drei Akten ... Klavierauszug mit Text. [Piano-vocal score]

Wien: Glocken-Verlag [PN G.V. 40], 1956.

Folio. Original publisher's dark ivory wrappers printed in black. [2] (title, contents), 3-103 pp. + 1f. (errata) laid in.

Wrappers browned and with small edge chips and tears; titling in black marker to spine. Browned.

Later issue.

Friederike, to a libretto by Ludwig Herzer and Fritz Löhner, was first performed in Berlin at the Metropol on October 4, 1928 (often incorrectly cited as October 10).

As an opera about the young Goethe and his love affair with Friederike Brion, Friederike attracted a great deal of attention and caused quite the scandal in Berlin. This was further inflamed by the impresario brothers Alfred and Fritz Rotter, who provided their Metropol Theatre and capitalized on the increased attention. The premiere featured Richard Tauber as Goethe and Käthe Dorsch as Friederike; it was attended by the leading figures and nobility of Germany. While critics lambasted it with extreme vitriol, the public was enthralled, and the popularity of Friederike spread throughout Germany and Europe. A cloud seemed to hang over the work and its creators, however: the Nazis banned it upon gaining power, Herzer died shortly after fleeing to Switzerland, Löhner was killed at Auschwitz, and a botched kidnapping attempt by the Gestapo left Alfred Rotter and his wife dead. Several melodies remained well-known through recordings of Tauber, but only recently has Friederike been recorded in its entirety, allowing for renewed appraisal and appreciation.

Item #32060

Price: $25.00  other currencies

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