KÖNIGSKINDER Amsterdam 2022 Daniel Behle, Olga Kulchynska, Josef Wagner, Doris Soffel
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Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Königskinder
- Composer: Engelbert Humperdinck
- Libretto: Elsa Bernstein Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Recorded: Octoebr 2022
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: Daniel Behle, Olga Kulchynska, Josef Wagner, Doris Soffel, Sam Carl, Michael Pflumm, Isabel Houtmortels, Henk Poort, Roger Smeets, Kai Rüütel
- Conductor: Marc Albrecht
- Orchestra: Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra
- Chorus: Chorus of Dutch National Opera, Nieuw Amsterdams Kinderkoor (part of Nieuw Vocaal Amsterdam)
- Chorus Master: Edward Ananian-Cooper, Anaïs de la Morandais
- Choreographer: Christof Loy
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Naxos
- Date Published: 2023
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: nosubs
- This Recording is NOT AVAILABLE from a proper commercial or public source
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Königskinder (German for King’s Children or “Royal Children”) is a stage work by Engelbert Humperdinck that exists in two versions: as a melodrama and as an opera or more precisely a Märchenoper. The libretto was written by Ernst Rosmer (pen name of Else Bernstein-Porges), adapted from her play of the same name.
In 1894, Heinrich Porges asked Humperdinck to write incidental music for his daughter Else’s play. Humperdinck was interested in making the story into an opera but since Else Bernstein-Porges initially refused, he opted for the play to be staged as a melodrama – that is with spoken dialogue taking place along with an instrumental backdrop. (The work also included operatic arias and choruses, as well as unaccompanied dialogue.)
In the melodramatic passages, Humperdinck designed an innovative hybrid notation that called for a text delivery somewhere between singing and speech. With this notation, the singer was expected to deliver a substantial portion of the text with approximate pitched melodies. This version was first staged at the Munich Hoftheater, with Hedwig Schako as the goose girl, on 23 January 1897 and enjoyed some success. However, Else Bernstein-Porges finally relented in 1907 and agreed that Humperdinck could transform the work into an opera.
from Wikipedia