Die Kathrin

Die Kathrin
Opera by Erich Wolfgang Korngold
The composer
Librettist	Ernst Décsey
Language	German
Premiere	7 October 1939 (1939-10-07) Royal Swedish Opera, Stockholm

Die Kathrin, Op. 28, is an opera in three acts by Erich Wolfgang Korngold with a German libretto by Ernst Décsey.

Performance history

Korngold completed the opera during the summer of 1937. The premiere was set for March 1938 in Vienna, but was cancelled due to Korngold's Jewish ancestry on Nazi instructions after the Nazi invasion of Austria. It finally premiered at the Royal Swedish Opera in neutral Stockholm, Sweden, on 7 October 1939, conducted by Fritz Busch.[1]

A Vienna run of only eight performances in October 1950 met with indifferent reviews, the opera's richly melodic musical language being completely at odds with the austere post-war taste.[2]

Roles

Roles, voice types, premiere cast

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast, 7 October 1939[1] Conductor: Fritz Busch
Kathrin	soprano	Brita Herzberg
François	tenor	Einar Beyron
Malignac	bass-baritone	Sven d'Ailly
Chou-Chou	soprano	Isa Quensel
Monique	mezzo-soprano	Gertrud Pålson-Wettergren

Recordings

• In 1998 CPO released the 1997 world premiere recording, with Martyn Brabbins conducting the BBC Concert Orchestra.[3][4] and Melanie Diener, David Rendall, Robert Hayward, Lillian Watson and Della Jones in the principal roles.

References

1. Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "Die Kathrin, 7 October 1939". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).
2. Carroll, Brendan G. (2003). The Background to the Opera. Die Kathrin (CD liner). Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Germany: CPO. 999602-2.
3. "Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Die Kathrin". Germany: CPO. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
4. R.E.B. (May 2003). "Korngold: Die Kathrin". Classical CD Review. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 3 August 2010.