Lortzing

Albert Lortzing - Der Waffenschmied (Auszüge)
RIAS-Kammerchor / Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin / Christoph Stepp
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 239 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Deutsche Grammophon # 447 814-2 | Country/Year: Germany 1964, 1990's
Genre: Classical | Style: Opera, Spieloper

Gustav Albert Lortzing was a German composer, actor and singer. He is considered to be the main representative of the German Spieloper, a form similar to the French opéra comique, which grew out of the Singspiel. (…) Der Waffenschmied (The Armourer) is an opera (Singspiel) in three acts by Albert Lortzing. The opera was eventually successful enough that Lortzing was offered the post of Kapellmeister at the theater which he held until the revolution of 1848, when he had to return to Leipzig. Arnold Schönberg, arranged Lortzing’s "Waffenschmied“ for piano for 4 hands…

A CD with orchestral works by Albert Lortzing should primarily include a CD with overtures to his operas. In addition to his stage works, which include interlude arias and incidental music, Lortzing almost exclusively composed works set to texts (choral works and art songs). In Leipzig, Lortzing soon realised that composing for publishers was a difficult, if not hopeless under­ taking — but nevertheless he was involved with it in the final year of his life — and he quickly became aware of the clear separation between the theatre and the Gewandhaus (Orchestra). “The orchestra is subservient to the music lovers’ concerts (which are important, of course) and the theatre, which brings the most income, is a secondary matter. If the Musikverein wants to pres­ent a concert, and the theatre director wants to present an opera at the same time, then the concert has first pri­ority and the opera audience has to be content with substitute orchestra members; I repeat — the theatre brings in 4 times as much money to the orchestra as the Musikverein. –“ (Lortzing’s letter to Anton Schindler in February 1834).

A CD with orchestral works by Albert Lortzing should primarily include a CD with overtures to his operas. In addition to his stage works, which include interlude arias and incidental music, Lortzing almost exclusively composed works set to texts (choral works and art songs). In Leipzig, Lortzing soon realised that composing for publishers was a difficult, if not hopeless under­ taking — but nevertheless he was involved with it in the final year of his life — and he quickly became aware of the clear separation between the theatre and the Gewandhaus (Orchestra). “The orchestra is subservient to the music lovers’ concerts (which are important, of course) and the theatre, which brings the most income, is a secondary matter. If the Musikverein wants to pres­ent a concert, and the theatre director wants to present an opera at the same time, then the concert has first pri­ority and the opera audience has to be content with substitute orchestra members; I repeat — the theatre brings in 4 times as much money to the orchestra as the Musikverein. –“ (Lortzing’s letter to Anton Schindler in February 1834).

Albert Lortzing - Neue Detmolder Liedertafel - An den Frühling: Ernste und heitere Festgesänge für Männerstimmen
Albert Lortzing - Neue Detmolder Liedertafel - To Spring: Serious and Serene Songs for Male Voices
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 240 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: MDG "Scene" # 622 1105-2 | Country/Year: Germany 2002
Genre: Classical | Style: Vocal

I was definitely not prepared for the utter charm and simplicity of these wonderful songs, grouped together on disc for the first time. Lortzing's melodies are easy on the ear and the Neue Detmolder Liedertafel are a crack group of singers, injecting their own characteristic charm into the music. (…) You can't really put a plug on this one, listening over and over again always increases the enjoyment. Just go ahead and buy it!

Albert Lortzing - Neue Detmolder Liedertafel - An den Frühling: Ernste und heitere Festgesänge für Männerstimmen
Albert Lortzing - Neue Detmolder Liedertafel - To Spring: Serious and Serene Songs for Male Voices
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 240 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: MDG "Scene" # 622 1105-2 | Country/Year: Germany 2002
Genre: Classical | Style: Vocal

I was definitely not prepared for the utter charm and simplicity of these wonderful songs, grouped together on disc for the first time. Lortzing's melodies are easy on the ear and the Neue Detmolder Liedertafel are a crack group of singers, injecting their own characteristic charm into the music. (…) You can't really put a plug on this one, listening over and over again always increases the enjoyment. Just go ahead and buy it!

Albert Lortzing's 'Zar and Zimmermann', written in 1837, is a marvelously constructed comedy of mistaken identities which rises above the usual farcical conventions and provides not only a satisfying plot but some excellent musical characterizations of what otherwise might have been stereotyped roles. In it Czar Peter the Great is working in the shipyards of Saardam (as he actually did in order to learn the shipbuilding trade) under the pseudonym of Peter Michaelov. Another Russian is also working there and also named Peter (Ivanov)… By J Scott Morrison HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE VOICE