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| Erich Korngold. Photo: Bettmann / Getty - The New Yorker |
Korngold: The Silent Serenade, Op. 36
Libretto: Victor Clement
Die stumme Serenade, Op. 36, (The silent serenade), is a German-language musical comedy by Erich Wolfgang Korngold to a libretto by Victor Clement. The style of the work is a mix of operetta and 1920s-style revue songs. The roles are written for eight singers and eight actors and the work is scored for a small chamber orchestra: two pianos, the first doubling on celesta, two violins, cello, flute, clarinet or saxophone, trumpet, and percussion. The plot is set in 1820s Naples. Korngold worked on the piece from 1946 to 1951, with a version (shortened from 180 to 100 minutes) being premiered by Radio Vienna in 1951. The full version was first staged in 1954 by Theatre Dortmund to negative critical response.
From Wikipedia, last edit March 25, 2019
Korngold's comeback bid finally reaches Vienna
In 1951, Erich Wolfgang Korngold wrote a musical comedy titled ‘Stumme Serenade’ (Silent Serenade) that he hoped would re-establish his former popularity in European opera houses.
It went out on Ravag, Soviet-controlled Vienna Radio, and was accounted a flop.
Three years later it was staged in Dortmund and attracted no further attention.
In June 2023, the Stumme Serenade was performed by the Vienna Kammeroper and did quite well.
All it takes is time.
From slippedisc June 7, 2023
Nostalgia in Nuts
by Dominik Troger
Heavy rain turned the approach to the Chamber Opera this Monday evening into an amphibious expedition. Everyone fled straight under the canopy and into the small foyer, where you could first take a deep breath in the mist of the rain jackets you had taken off and the umbrellas shaken out. But nothing can stop opera enthusiasts from attending the staged Austrian premiere of a work by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
The rush was really strong, the hall was well filled, and there was no shortage of personalities from Vienna's musical life: opera directors, music critics, professors from universities, artists and a whole department of regular guests from the State Opera Gallery came together to see this opus from the early 1950s - Saying welcome to years. The road to this scenic Austrian premiere was really a long one, although "The Silent Serenade" has already been heard in this country.
On Easter Monday in 1951, the RAVAG audience was able to listen to a musical comedy entitled “The Silent Serenade”. The piece was given in a radio version, conducted by the composer. (Korngold actually wanted the “Stumme Serenade” to be performed on Broadway, but it became a radio production in the German translation by Raoul Auernheimer.) The “Neues Österreich” of March 31, 1951 noted: “The little work is charming, imaginative and achieves strong dramatic effects with the simplest means. (...) What we particularly appreciate about the work is the richness of the melodic ideas, the piquancy of a seasoned but never over-exaggerated harmony and the fresh, buffonesque character of the whole (...). The (...) little opera would have an excellent effect on a small stage (Akademietheater).” The use of diminutive forms in this short review is striking and shows that contemporaries found it difficult to “categorise” the “Stumme Serenade” Is it Singspiel, operetta, incidental music, musical, revue and/or comic opera? Doesn't the "Serenade" seem to sit between all genre chairs?
From today's point of view, the classification is perhaps easier: described by Korngold as a "comedy with music", the work seems to have its roots in the revue and operetta theatres of the interwar period with a nostalgic flair modelled on by the composer, with a penchant for hits, to which a small ensemble plays a colourful, often slightly jazzy accompaniment.
There is a recording of the radio version that you can listen to on YouTube, which makes this stylistic classification possible. You can also convince yourself of the high quality of the ensemble of that time, which knew how to switch seamlessly between speech and operetta-like singing with clear, precise articulation.
This recording also brings out the fine, charming, slightly frivolous irony that spices up this rather absurd story of the tailor who, in Naples in 1820, serenades a sleepwalking actress and even confesses to an assassination attempt out of love didn't commit, only to be able to hug his sweetheart at the end, and only just saved from the gallows.
The staged premiere took place in Dortmund in 1954, where “The Dumb Serenade” had a difficult time due to high expectations, more oriented towards an “opera” and criticism that Korngold was dismissed as old-fashioned. The work literally disappeared into oblivion – also because of Korngold's early death – until it was brought out again in 2007. Since then it has often been re-enacted (on smaller German stages). "The Silent Serenade" would have done well as a film, though, as one of those typically easy-going comedy films of the 1950s, early 1960s.)
The director, Dirk Schmeding, started the action with over-the-top momentum, relying on slapstick and a skilful "conversion choreography" that built on the efficient use of large "event boxes". The small stage of the chamber opera was used very well and enlivened by brisk directing. An intermediate curtain fitted with orange lightbulbs conjured up a “vaudeville feeling” in the small hall. This placed the work in a revue-like stage setting, which was a good idea because it suited the musical language and the sometimes almost nonsense plot. Surprising effects such as the delinquent on the giant cannonball or the “elevator” for the prime minister, who is drawn with the typical “little man syndrome”, as well as the costumes provided enough variety.
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| Director, Dirk Schmeding. Photo: Isabel Machado Rios |
Less pleasing was the "mallet humour" with which Schmeding brought the play into the present. Korngold's loving and charming figure drawing culminated in oversized (not to say “disgusting") plastic breasts, which the actress Silvia Lombardi wore in front of her at dinner with her revolutionary tailor. In this way, the exaggeration quickly becomes the enemy of a cultivated and playful sense of humour that still takes the characters seriously enough to maintain the difference between parody and humanely felt mental pain, depending on the scene. The border to slapstick is quickly crossed, and there was a lot of that this evening.
The enthusiastic ensemble plus soloists in the ditch (conductor: Ingo Martin Stadtmüller) put on a well-timed show in line with the direction and delighted the audience. (It was quite surprising to discover a few microports and to perceive inflated acoustics that were little conducive to detail.) The focus of the performance was Peter Bording as the talented dressmaker Andrea Coclé and Jasmina Sakr as the actress Silvia Lombardi he coveted. They were both accompanied by a whole series of stage-effective "supporting roles" - such as: Stefano Bernardin as Prime Minister and bomb maker, Reinwald Kranner as the police minister fearing "pension without pension" or Alexander Strobele in several speaking roles. Paul Schweinester was a journalist and Jenifer Lary was Luise, who was sung about in a hit song. The three mannequins (Diana Bärhold, Lilia Höfling and Lucia Miorin) were also used for dance interludes and for nimble conversion work.
The final applause was strong and lasted for a long time, and the audience was very amused during the performance. The production can obviously be booked as a success. The performance, including an intermission, lasted less than two and a half hours. Korngold's musical comedy was the Theatre an der Wien's last premiere of the current season. It closes the first year of Stefan Herheim's artistic directorship, who has upgraded the chamber opera after several years as the house's studio stage.
Cast:
Silvia Lombardi - Jasmina Sakr
Andrea Coclé - Peter Bording
Louise - Jenifer Lary
Sam Borzalino - Paul Schweinester
Caretto - Reinwald Kranner
Mannequin 1 - Diana Bärhold
Mannequin 2 & Dance Captain - Lilia Höfling
Mannequin 3 - Lucia Miorin
Speaking roles:
Benedetto Lugarini / Carlo Marcelini - Stefano Bernardin
Bettina / Laura / Pater Orsenigo - Alexander Strobele
Musical direction: Ingo Martin Stadtmüller
Staging: Dirk Schmeding
Set and costumes: Pascal Seibicke
Lighting: Franz Tscheck
Choreography: Kerstin Ried
Chamber opera
June 5, 2023
Scenic Austrian premiere
First published at Opera in Vienna, June 5, 2023
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