Die Gezeichneten

Franz Schreker
Operas Flammen (1902) Der ferne Klang (1912) Die Gezeichneten (1918) Der Schatzgräber (1920) Irrelohe (1924)
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Die Gezeichneten (The Branded or The Stigmatized) is an opera in three acts by Franz Schreker, libretto by the composer.

Composition history

Schreker wrote the libretto in 1911 at the request of Alexander Zemlinsky after Frank Wedekind's Hidalla.^[1] However, Schreker decided to set the text himself and completed the composition in 1915. The score is published by Universal Edition Vienna.^[2]

Performance history

The Alte Oper in Frankfurt 1880-1945

An expanded concert-version of the overture to the opera, entitled Vorspiel zu einem Drama, was performed at the Vienna Musikverein on 8 February 1914 by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Felix Weingartner.^[3]

The complete opera was first performed on 25 April 1918 by the Frankfurt Opera in the Alte Oper, conducted by Ludwig Rottenberg.^[4][5] It established Schreker as the pre-eminent opera composer of his generation and won him the support of Germany's foremost music critic, Paul Bekker. Before the composer's music was banned in 1933 due to his Jewish ancestry, a further two dozen productions followed in fifteen different cities in Germany and Austria.^[6] The playbill of the first performance in Vienna (January 1920) mentions 66 previous performances of the opera in five different opera houses (Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Munich, Dresden and Breslau).^[7]

Conductor Michael Gielen revived the opera at the Oper Frankfurt in 1979.^[8] The performance was recorded live. William Cochran appeared as Alviano Salvago, Barry Mora as Tamare, June Card as Carlotta, and Günter Reich as the duke.^[1]

A major staging took place at the Salzburg Festival in 2005 directed by Nikolaus Lehnhoff and conducted by Kent Nagano with Robert Brubaker (Alviano) and Anne Schwanewilms (Carlotta) in the leading roles, though the opera was heavily cut for this production.

The American premiere was staged at the Los Angeles Opera on 10 April 2010, followed by three more performances.^[9] James Conlon conducted and Robert Brubaker (Salviago), Anja Kampe (Carlotta) and Martin Gantner (Tamare) sang the principal roles. This event was hailed by critics as the first ever performance of a Schreker opera in the Western Hemisphere.^[10]

Also in April 2010 it was performed six times at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo in a production by Graham Vick.^[11]

Roles

Role[2]	Voice type	Premiere Cast[4] 25 April 1918 (Conductor: Ludwig Rottenberg)
Duke Antoniotto Adorno	bass	Walter Schneider
Count Vitelozzo Tamare	baritone	Robert vom Scheidt
Lodovico Nardi, Podestà	bass	Willy Roos
Carlotta Nardi, his daughter	soprano	Else Gentner-Fischer
Alviano Salvago, a Genoan nobleman	tenor	Karl Ziegler
Guidobald Usodimare, a Genoan nobleman	tenor	Hermann Schramm
Menaldo Negroni, a Genoan nobleman	tenor	Erik Wirl
Michelotto Cibo, a Genoan nobleman	baritone	Rudolf Brinkmann
Gonsalvo Fieschi, a Genoan nobleman	baritone	Fritz Meurs
Julian Pinelli, a Genoan nobleman	bass	Josef Gareis
Paolo Calvi, a Genoan nobleman	bass	Josef Gareis
Capitaneo di Giustizia	bass	Leo Kaplan
Ginevra Scotti	soprano	Marta Uersfeld
Martuccia, Alviano's housekeeper	contralto	Marie Welling-Bertram
Pietro, a cutthroat	tenor
A youth	tenor	Franz Wartenberg
His friend	bass	Willy Schürmann
A young girl	soprano	Elisabeth Kandt
First senator	tenor	Erik Wirl
Second senator	baritone	Rudolf Brinkmann
Third senator	bass	Josef Gareis
A servant	bass
A maidservant	mezzo-soprano	Anita Franz
First citizen	tenor
Second citizen	baritone	Carl Bauermann
Third citizen	bass	Willy Schürmann
Father	bass	Paul Neumann
Mother	contralto	Frieda Hammerschmidt
A small boy, silent part
First young man	tenor	Franz Wartenberg
Second young man	baritone	Carl Bauermann
Third young man	bass	Willy Schürmann
A giant citizen	bass	Karl Kröff

Instrumentation

The orchestral score requires:

• 4 flutes (all 4 doubling piccolo), 4 oboes (oboe 4 doubling English horn), 4 clarinets (in A/B-flat, 4 doubling E flat clarinet), bass clarinet in B-flat (doubling basset horn), 2 bassoons, contrabassoon;
• 6 horns in F, 4 trumpets in C (4 doubling bass trumpet), 3 trombones, bass tuba (doubling contrabass tuba);
• timpani, percussion (3 players), 2 harps, celesta, piano;
• strings (violins I, violins II, violas, violoncellos, double basses).^[2]

Synopsis

The opera is set in 16th century Genoa

Act 1

The young Genoan nobleman Alviano Salviago, hunchbacked and deformed, has renounced the love of women. He wants to donate to the people of Genoa the island paradise called "Elysium" he has created. His friends, a group of dissolute young noblemen, have been using an underground grotto on the island to celebrate orgies with young women abducted from prominent Genoan families, and intervene with duke Adorno to stop the transfer of ownership. One of them, count Tamare, has set his sights on Carlotta, daughter of the Podestà. Carlotta rejects him, as she is only interested in Salviago, whose soul she wants to paint.

Act 2

Infuriated by Carlotta's rejection, Tamare swears to Adorno that he will take her by force. He also reveals the secret of the grotto. In order to avoid the consequences of this secret becoming public, Adorno agrees to vetoing the transfer. While Salviago is sitting for Carlotta, she tries to bring out his soul, thereby applying all her female charms. Salviago misinterprets these signs, and thinks she is in love with him.

Act 3

The citizens of Genoa take possession of the island. Salviago asks the Podestà for Carlotta's hand in marriage. She evades him, wanders off alone, and in the grotto finally succumbs to Tamare. The duke accuses Salviago of masterminding the abductions. Salviago, besides himself with worry for Carlotta, leads everyone to the underground grotto. Carlotta lies senseless on a bed, while Tamare prides himself on his conquering abilities. Salviago stabs him. Carlotta awakens, Salviago rushes to her side, but with her dying breath she calls for Tamare. Salviago, completely deranged, stumbles over Tamare's body as he makes his way through the stunned crowd.

Recordings

• In 1995 Decca released a recording made at the Jesus-Christus-Kirche in Berlin-Dahlem in August 1993 / February 1994 as part of their Entartete Musik series, with Lothar Zagrosek conducting the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. The principal roles were sung by Heinz Kruse (Salviago), Elizabeth Connell (Carlotta) and Monte Pederson (Tamare).^[7]
• In 2003 ORFEO released a 1984 live recording from the Salzburger Festspiele, with Gerd Albrecht conducting the Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien.^[12]

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} "Die Gezeichneten". operone.com. 2010. http://www.operone.de/opern/gezeichn.html. Retrieved 12 August 2010. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} "Franz Schreker - Die Gezeichneten, opera in 3 acts". Universal Edition. http://www.universaledition.com/Franz-Schreker/composers-and-works/composer/659/work/2011. Retrieved 31 July 2010. 
3. ^ "Musical events 8 February 1914". AmadeusOnline. 2010. http://amadeusonline.net/almanacco.php?Start=0&Giorno=8&Mese=02&Anno=1914&Giornata=&Testo=&Parola=Stringa. Retrieved 3 August 2010. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "Musical events 25 April 1918". Italy: Amadeusonline. http://amadeusonline.net/almanacco.php?Start=0&Giorno=25&Mese=04&Anno=1918&Giornata=&Testo=&Parola=Stringa. Retrieved 31 July 2010. 
5. ^ "Chronology". Franz Schreker Foundation. http://www.schreker.org/neu/engl/biogra/chrono/chrono.html. Retrieved 8 August 2010. 
6. ^ Christopher Hailey: 'Franz Schreker: A cultural biography' (Cambridge University Press, 1993)
7. ^ ^{a b} (1995) Release notes for Die Gezeichneten by Franz Schreker. Decca Record Company (444442-2).
8. ^ Peters, Rainer (2010). "The Ernst von Siemens Music Prize-Winner Michael Gielen". Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung. http://www.evs-musikstiftung.ch/en/ernst-von-siemens-music-prize/prize-winner-2010/michael-gielen/essay/. Retrieved 12 August 2010. 
9. ^ "L.A.Opera: Productions - The Stigmatized". Los Angeles Opera. 2010. http://www.laopera.com/production/0910/stigmatized/index.aspx. Retrieved 3 August 2010. 
10. ^ "Opera review: Franz Schreker's "The Stigmatized"". Los Angeles Times. April 2010. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2010/04/franz-schrekers-the-stigmatized-at-los-angeles-opera.html. Retrieved 3 August 2010. 
11. ^ "Performances of Die Gezeichneten by city". Operabase.com. 2010. http://operabase.com/oplist.cgi?id=none&lang=en&adv=f&from=1+1+2009&to=&approx=0&is=die+gezeichneten&by=franz+schreker&sel=&loc=&near=0&full=Y&sort=V. Retrieved 5 August 2010. 
12. ^ Rob Barnett (February 2003). "Franz Schreker: Die Gezeichneten". MusicWeb International. http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2003/Feb03/schreker%20gezeichneten.htm. Retrieved 31 July 2010. 

References

• András Batta: Opera - Komponisten, Werke, Interpreten (Könemann Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, 2000, Dutch translation)
• Christopher Hailey: Franz Schreker: A cultural biography (Cambridge University Press, 1993)