Wagner's "Lohengrin"

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1850, the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt conducted in Weimar the first performance of “Lohengrin,” a new opera by the German composer Richard Wagner.

Liszt was determined to make Weimar famous, musically-speaking, despite the rather provincial nature of the forces he had at his disposal. For the “Lohengrin” premiere Liszt had to go out and buy a bass-clarinet, since the Court orchestra didn’t own one, and he beefed up the number of violins from the usual 11 players to a grand total of 18.

As for the singers, they were hardly world-famous superstars. The title role of Lohengrin was sung by a local tenor named Karl Beck, who had also been a pastry cook in Weimar, and would later return to that profession as a master baker in Vienna. Even so, Liszt’s unprecedented 46 rehearsals apparently paid off: the premiere of “Lohengrin” was a big success, and helped put both Weimar and Wagner on the map.

Ironically, Wagner himself was unable to attend the premiere of his new opera. He was a wanted man on German soil, having participated in the unsuccessful Dresden uprising of 1849, and there was a warrant out for his arrest on the charge of high treason. Liszt had helped him escape to Switzerland, and while his opera was being staged in Weimar, Wagner himself was at hotel in Lucerne, listening in his imagination, he later told Liszt, as each scene unfolded.

Music Played in Today's Program

Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883) Lohengrin Bayreuth Festival Orchestra; Peter Schneider, cond. Philips 438 500

On This Day

Births

• 1867 - Italian opera composer Umberto Giordano, in Foggia;

Deaths

• 1572 - Huguenot composer Claude Goudimel, age c. 52-58, in Lyons, sometime between August 28-31, during the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of Protestants by Catholic partisans;

• 1914 - Russian composer Anatol Liadov, age 59, at his estate near Novgorod (Julian date: Aug 16);

• 1959 - Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu, age 68, in Liestal, Switzerland;

Premieres

• 1733 - Pergolesi: one-act opera "La Serva Padrona," in Naples, as a comic interlude during the presentation of his serious opera, "Il Prigionier superbo"; The comic interlude became his most famous work, while the serious opera has been long forgotten;

• 1849 - Liszt: tone-poem "Tasso," in Weimarduring Goethe Centennery Festival;

• 1850 - Wagner: "Lohengrin," in Weimar at the Hoftheater, with Liszt conducting;

• 1922 - Gershwin: one-act opera "Blue Monday," as a part of "George White's Scandals of 1922" at the Globe Theater in New York City; The opera was cut from the "Scandals" after its one opening night performance; Reorchestrated by Ferde Grofe, it was given again as a concert performance by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra at Carnegie Hall on Dec. 29, 1925;

• 1954 - Persichetti: Symphony No. 5 for strings, by the Louisville Orchestra;

• 1956 - Martinu: "Frescoes of Piero della Francesca," for orchestra, at the Salzburg Festival in Austria, by the Vienna Philharmonic, Rafael Kubelik conducting;

• 1963 - Tippett: "Concerto for Orchestra," at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland;

• 1999 - Philip Glass: Symphony No. 5 ("Requiem, Bardo and Nirmanakaya"), at the Salzburg Festival in Austra, with Dennis Russell Davies conducting soloists, choruses, and the Vienna Radio Symphony;

Others

• 1949 - Founding of the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado as part of a celebration of the 200th anniversary of Goethe's birth.