FRANZ SCHUBERT

Of the ten stage compositions Schubert completed, only two were performed during his lifetime. And even today, his musico-dramatic works tend to be overshadowed by his songs, chamber music and symphonies. However, anyone who gets involved with Schubert’s operas will discover an unknown world of musical treasures and wonders.

In the opera fragment “Der Spiegelritter”, the highly ambitious 14-year-old Schubert sends his knight Almador into a magical kingdom inhabited by magicians and enchanted princesses, and takes the libretto, originally intended as a parody, in a touchingly serious manner.

While the opera seria of Christoph Willibald Gluck still resonates here, in “Die Freunde von Salamanka” we are musically immersed in the cheerful world of the German Singspiel: with the help of his friends, young Alonso ultimately succeeds in eliminating his noble rival for the beautiful and rich Countess Olivia.

This recording from the Schubertiade Hohenems in 1978 is now available for the first time digitally. Singers such as Hermann Prey, Edith Mathis, Kurt Rydl and Robert Holl as well as the Chorus and Orchestra of the Austrian Radio, Vienna, conducted by Theodor Guschlbauer are a cast that Schubert would have dreamed of. 

The original LP artwork with an essay by Schubert editor Walther Dürr and the libretti in German and English are available to download here.