Belatedly, Video & Reviews for Conlon's Latest "Recovered Voices" Effort
For the second season, James Conlon uses his post as LA Opera music director to champion works of composers that were affected by the Third Reich. Much of the Nazi-suppressed music was deemed “entertete” (or degenerate, decadent) simply for being the work of Jewish composers, though modern techniques or use of jazz would also qualify.
LA Opera’s double bill of Viktor Ullmann’s comedy “The Broken Jug” (from a story by Heinrich von Kleist) and Alexander Zemlinsky’s tragedy “The Dwarf” (from a story by Oscar Wilde) opened on February 17. See the video trailer below, or read this program note for “The Broken Jug” and “The Dwarf.”
James Conlon Comments
There is a concern that the tragic circumstances of these composers engenders undeserved admiration for their works. (Specifically, Bernard Holland cannot find any originality in Ullman’s works from another Conlon series, while Joseph Kallichstein responds more humanely.) In this interview with Jewish TV News, Conlon declares these works “merit on their own terms to be part of the repertory.” While his heart goes out to the individual victims for their fates, it has nothing to do with the quality of the music.
February 8 Podcast: Conlon talks about his mission: “I am just a practicing musician who is doing with this music what I do with everything else.” He comments “It is artistically unacceptable that we music loves we musicians have not been able to benefit from the inheritance of a very important and significant volume of music that belongs directly in the great German tradition of classical music.” Conlon goes on to describe suppressed music as uniquely “lost” as opposed to the suppressed literature, paintings, etc., because “music lives by performance.” The preservation of scores isn’t enough.
February 13 Podcast: Roderick Dixon and Mary Dunleavy discuss the experience of appearing in Zemlinsky’s “The Dwarf”.
LA Opera also provides this article by Conlon on the Recovered Voices project. “The cliche that ‘there are no lost masterpieces’ reveals our own ignorance,” Conlon asserts.
Some Reviews
Rescue Mission
Opera News
New Life for Works Hitler Tried to Kill
New York Times
L.A. Opera unearths music suppressed by the Nazis
Orange County Register
“That Viktor Ullmann’s “The Broken Jug” and Alexander Zemlinsky’s “The Dwarf” could eventually enter the repertory seems possible. The first, the comedy, would make a nice double bill with “Gianni Schicchi.” The second, based on Oscar Wilde, would provide a ready substitute for “Salome.” Both have strong librettos and are eminently stage-worthy.”
Opera: Restoring Nazi-supressed ‘Recovered Voices’
Jewish Journal
Filling the Silence with Music
LA Downtown News
Rescuing the Past
LA Downtown News editorial
“The project would fall short if the works were saved only for posterity’s sake; Conlon has smartly selected pieces that stand up critically. Last year’s Recovered Voices programs ended in standing ovations. That probably helped spur a second edition. L.A. Opera’s artistic reputation has risen in recent years. Conlon’s project ensures that the company will be noted not just for playing music, but for rescuing it.”
The Broken Jug, The Dwarf: Strong “Voices” speaks to deeper meaning
LA Times
“Of the two one-act operas, “The Dwarf” is by far the most important. Premiered in Cologne in 1922, it is the sixth of the composer’s eight operas. (Conlon presented Zemlinsky’s earlier “A Florentine Tragedy” last season in a concert performance with the company.) The score, especially in the orchestral writing, is ravishing.”
A taste for unfamiliar fare
Financial Times
“Much of Zemlinsky’s 1922 work, adapted from Oscar Wilde’s “Birthday of the Infanta”, suggests that its sensibility is paradigmatic of this lost generation. The sensuous chromaticism and brilliant orchestration are wed to a singing line of uncommon eloquence. Moreover, the parable of the misshapen dwarf who falls in love with a princess, only to die of a broken heart when he sees his reflection in a mirror, trades in the abnormal psychology in which these composers of the Freudian era steeped themselves.”
James Conlon’s mission: Revive operas banned by Hitler
International Herald Tribune
“Inevitably questions of motive surround discussions of such music and its creators, who are susceptible to everything from pity to opportunism. Conlon is sensitive to such queries. ‘I am not interested in tokenism or novelty,” he said. “I am not a specialty conductor, nor do I want this to be viewed as specialty repertory. This is an integral part of German music. These are not people from outer space. They have the same roots and came out of the same environment as everyone else in their time.’”
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